


Illusion, Trickery and Wicked Deeds

by CaptArthur (anauthorsworld00)



Category: Legacies (TV 2018), Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: F/F, Friendship, Magical Stiles Stilinski, Pre-Season 1 Legacies, Season 1 Teen Wolf
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-01
Updated: 2021-03-21
Packaged: 2021-04-12 12:41:20
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 13
Words: 30,606
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21632656
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/anauthorsworld00/pseuds/CaptArthur
Summary: Stiles gets accepted as a witch to the Salvatore school after his mother's death.His school year is spent with vampires witches and werewolves and his summers are spent pretending he doesn’t know that he lives in a town full of supernaturals.This lives in a universe before S1 Legacies and during S1+S2 Teen Wolf. It will follow the events that occur in Teen Wolf but it won't feature hugely.
Relationships: Hope Mikaelson & Stiles Stilinski, Penelope Park & Stiles Stilinski, Penelope Park/Josie Saltzman, Scott McCall & Stiles Stilinski
Comments: 10
Kudos: 124





	1. Chapter 1

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Realised while looking up the timeline of events that it was pretty skewed, so I'm just going back and editing it so it doesn't flop later.

Stiles sat on the bench outside of his dads office, he’d already missed a week of school and his headmaster was offering to come drive down and pick him up himself. His dad always wanted to drop him off it had been the same way since he had been seven and his mother had died. He spent his summers with his dad and he spent his school year at the Salvatore school with his friends, the exact place he wished he was in now. 

He typed out his exact frustrations to a friend back in the school. His summers weren’t as interesting as his school years but at least he got to see his dad, that was always a positive. He just hated that he was stuck here now, all because the crime suddenly seemed to skyrocket just as he was supposed to go back to school. 

His fingers itched for magic but he had to be quiet about all of that here, he would only get sent away and his dad didn’t need that more than what was already happening. He just had to maintain the boarding school scholarship facade for another couple of days until he could convince his dad that he’d be alright just catching a bus back across the states. Like that would happen though. 

When the door to his fathers office finally opened he looked up with excited eyes only to see his dad sliding his gun into his holster. John shook his head at his boy, eyes sorry. 

“Sorry, kid, there’s been a call. We won’t be going back tonight. I’ll meet you at home later.”

Stiles nodded annoyed, that was another couple of days stuck in this boring town, at this rate they might as well sign him up for school. 

He pulled his coat around his shoulders, typed out a response to his friend then headed out of the station. Goodbyes from the other deputies fell on his deaf ears as he focused solely on not letting his annoyance flood out of him in bouts of magic. That wouldn’t help him and it definitely wouldn’t help the bags around his dads eyes. 

He walked silently down the dark streets, his magic touching every streetlamp he passed under making it buzz only a little bit louder. It was an energy release if he’d ever had one and if he couldn’t do anything big he would take what he could get. 

The cold was barely a problem, it prickled at his arms but did little to take his mind off the distress that came from being trapped in this town for longer than he wanted. 

He was snapped from it when cop car after cop car whizzed by him, sirens blazing and lights flashing in his eyes. He jumped and stopped still before he could drag his mind back to the present and continue his walk. 

He was over half way to his house when someone’s voice broke through his thoughts and startled him. 

“Hey man, do you know what all of that was about.”

Stiles blinked a few times to notice the figure yelling at him from an open window. 

“How should I know?”

“You’re the sheriff’s kid right? Just figured you might know.”

Stiles felt his mouth dry up, he hardly spoke to anyone here but people still knew who he was. That wouldn’t bode well if suddenly his secret came out, he would have to work on that next year. 

“Uh yeah, they got a call, that many cars suggests abduction, or manhunt, or a search. Something they’d need help with plus K-9 units so they’re looking for something.”

“Cool, do you want to go have a look? Like I have practice tomorrow but I’ll probably end up on the bench again.”

Stiles frowned at the utter enthusiasm this boy had to go look for something potentially dangerous in Beacon Hills, the place where nothing ever happened. But at least his summer was finally starting to look interesting. 

“I’ve got nothing better to do.”

“Sweet, I’ll be right down.”

His window slammed shut and for the first time Stiles wondered how his dad would react to find out he hadn’t gone straight home. He could always say he’d finally made a friend, he could even make his dad really mad and tell him none of this would have happened if he had’ve just taken Stiles back to school a week ago like it was planned. 

The front door to the house swung open and the boy bounded out like an excitable puppy. 

“I’m Scott by the way forgot to say.”

“Stiles.”

“Stiles?”

Stiles shrugged, “nickname, my first name is hard to pronounce, it’s better this way.”

Scott shrugged it off with a grin, this boy really was like an excitable puppy, “So do you know where they got called out to?”

Stiles shook his head, “I didn’t hear, was just going to go back to the house and play games.”

Scott sagged “My mom has the car and I haven’t gotten my permit yet so I can’t drive anyway.”

“I can drive, I just don’t have a car. I only live here during summers so there was no real point.”

“I always wondered why I never saw you at school. Where do you go for school?”

They had just started to walk in the general direction of the preserve, they would likely reach there just as the search finished but Stiles found he didn’t mind that at all. 

“Boarding school in Virginia, got a scholarship there. Been attending since I was seven.”

“That’s so cool. So what are you still doing here then, the school year has started?”

“My dad usually drives me down but it’s been a busy beginning of the year and he hasn’t had time. So for the meantime it looks like I’m stuck here.”

“Well, give me your number for when you finally up and go back, don’t want to miss out on you coming back next summer.”

“Fair enough.”

Stiles handed over his phone easily, he didn’t have too many contacts and it never bothered him. 

“Someone named P wants you to come back quickly.”

Scott said as he handed the phone back, he hadn’t thought about his friend texting him, luckily they tended not to talk about anything too revealing, mostly what was going on with her ex-girlfriend. 

“Ah that’s just Penelope, her crush’s sister is being a particularly strong pain this year and I usually run interference and I can’t do it from all the way over here.”

“Sounds like you need to get back there. What happens if your dad can’t drive you across, would you join Beacon Hills High.” 

Scott said with a laugh but Stiles could hear the curiosity in that question, “probably not. My headmaster’s been offering to come down and get me. Other than that I’ve been considering just bus hopping until I get over there.”

“Wow you seriously want to go back.”

“Well yeah, it’s my home.”

Scott nodded at that, “I understand that, they’re your family right? I don’t think I could ever leave my mom to go across the country for some school. I’m not judging you, I’m just saying.”

“It’s alright, I would probably feel the same if I hadn’t been there nine years. I started going after my mom died, my dad just sent me to Virginia. We kind of grew apart.”

Scott nodded, “my dad left. It isn’t the same but I don’t see him anymore. But nine years is a strong connection, I guess you’ve spent more time there than at home.”

“Yeah, exactly. I just miss them over summer and I miss my dad during the school year. But I never felt the urge to catch six buses back here when my dad came to get me five days late for summer but I’ve been here a week longer than I was supposed to be and I’ve been looking for practically any way to escape.”

“Well I guess you know which one you prefer.”

Stiles smiled at Scott and nodded, it felt nice to talk to someone who even if they didn’t understand was purely just there to talk rather than judge his every thought. This was how he felt at the school, it had never been how he felt in Beacon Hills. Maybe summers would be okay here if he knew he could spend time with Scott and not every waking moment in a police station. 

“You know we’ve headed towards the preserve right? I don’t even know where they were heading?”

The preserve was eerily quiet as they approached, that much he knew. He could feel the wind whistling through the trees and his energy sought to touch at the natural hum radiating through the woods. It was in nature that he always felt most secure, at least if anything bad was to happen he could protect them, and well he could explain it to Scott later. It didn’t matter if he didn’t understand it, if he didn’t see anything he couldn’t tell anyone it really happened. 

“I guess I’ve always just wanted to have a look, it’s kind of peaceful?”

Stiles shook his head and shrugged, he really didn’t know the answer to that question.

“Don’t know, I guess. Something has always told me not to go in. I think if I really wanted to get on the bad side of my dad this would be my best bet. ”

“Fair enough. Should we continue then?”

“Want to go back and get some sleep before your practice tomorrow?” Stiles teased lightly and Scott pushed at him. 

“I thought about it, but I kind of want to see what’s so dangerous out here.”

“Compromise, we don’t see anything in half an hour we head back, the walk took twenty minutes, so you might be able to get six hours of sleep before your practice tomorrow.”

“Sounds good. You’ve got faith in me getting off the bench don’t you?”

“I’m praying in advance.”

Scott laughed but continued walking through the woods. Neither boy knew what they were looking for but both were interested to see what they would find.

The flashing lights in the distance caught Stiles’ attention quicker than they did Scott’s, they were getting closer to the search area his dad was canvassing. It worried him some but not enough to convince his new found friend that they should turn back now, this was exciting, this was what he wanted for his future. 

“What are you doing out here?”

“Just exploring.” He shrugged nonchalantly, he wasn’t fazed by his dads anger, he’d been on the wrong end of a grumpy Alaric Saltzman this was nothing in comparison. 

“Just you?”

“Who else would I be with dad, it’s not like I have any friends here.”

John couldn’t refute that, as much as he wanted his son to put down roots here he also knew what his son thought of the people that resided in Beacon Hills, they were all too mundane compared to who he usually spent his time with. 

Stiles was willing to keep Scott away from the Sheriffs eye as long as he could manage it. 

“I heard you yell out.”

“Yeah, I lost my footing and slipped. Thought I was falling into darkness, you know how we like to avoid that.”

His dad smacked the back of his head lightly though there was warning to it too, they weren’t supposed to talk about the magic in his blood, it was one of the main reasons he’d agreed to let Stiles continue his education at the Salvatore school for so long. That maybe if he was letting his magic run free there he wouldn’t need to here. Sometimes Stiles hated that his dad just wouldn’t let him be himself in the time he had when he was with him, maybe if he did Stiles wouldn’t be vying to get back to school as soon as the end of summer came. 

“Right well, you’re staying here with me now and I’ll drive you back to the house later. Don’t think I can trust you on your own any longer.”

Stiles rolled his eyes but didn’t make to disagree, he didn’t need anymore reason for his dad to not let him back to school and he had a feeling his dad was only looking for that reason these days.


	2. Chapter 2

The next time Stiles saw Scott he’d been staking out his house for the better part of four hours. He’d arrived at 3 thinking that he’d maybe turn up after school ended but then at around 4 he remembered that it was his day of practice so now it was 6 and he was beginning to regret his life choices.

The footsteps were like music to his ears and he finally pulled his head from between his knees to spot the familiar curly hair and energetic puppy behaviour that drew him to agree to the midnight walk in the woods plan in the first place.

“Stiles, what are you doing here?”

“I wanted to check you were alright after you fell down that slope. My dad caught me but I made sure that he knew I was out there by myself, not like he would have believed me if I told him I was there with someone else.”

“Yeah I’m alright, my asthma didn’t help anything.”

“That’s good then. I’m glad you’re okay."

“Nah it’s cool man. Do you want to come in, rather than just sitting outside?”

“I wouldn’t be intruding?”

“Nah, my mom’s got the late shift at the hospital, and I guess your dad’s working.”

“Yeah, he won’t tell me stuff anymore though, says I’m not trustworthy anymore. Not like I’m fussed now though, my headmaster’s coming down to pick me up in a few days seen as my dad’s trying to find a reason not to let me go back.”

“Why, dude, that sucks?”

“Think he doesn’t like the idea that I am the way I am from this school, he’s always going on about how he turned out alright from public school.”

“I think you’re cool.”

“Thanks, Scott, I’m really glad I met you even if it is a short-lived friendship.”

“Hey, no way. You got my phone number, there’s nothing stopping me texting you till you wish you had never agreed to be my friend.”

Stiles laughed then he remembered something, “what about your practice? Please tell me you didn’t end up on the bench again.”

“Yep, I’m on the bench. But I can try for the first line again after Christmas.”

Stiles frowned, “not giving up that’s the spirit, what sport do you play again?”

Scott laughed, “Lacrosse, how about you? Your fancy boarding school must have some good sports.”

“We have basketball and tag football. I do a lot of running but that isn’t with a team or anything just for fun.”

“Fair enough, I’m asthmatic so I’ve had to be careful about how much exercise I do.”

“That sucks.”

They both hummed in agreement as the conversation came to an end. They were both stood around the dining room table in Scott’s house when he suggested video games. It was as good an opportunity for two friends to really find themselves out. It was a short but lively friendship, and both boys felt as if they could have been friends all of their lives, at least Stiles would be back for holidays and Summer.

“So when is your headmaster due to get here?”

Stiles shifted in his seat and fished his phone out of his pocket.

“Says should be Wednesday, he’ll stay here for a couple of hours and then we’ll catch a flight back.”

“How longs the flight meant to take?”

“Over five hours, but like that’s better than three days driving all the way across America with my dad.”

“Wouldn't it be weird flying with your headmaster?”

“Dr Saltzman is cool, I mostly don’t get in trouble and he’s known me since I was seven. He’s pretty chill.”

“That’s good, I’m always petrified of talking to our headmaster but that’s only because his volume is loud and nothing else.”

Stiles grinned.

* * *

When the day his headmaster was to arrive came, Scott found himself worried that Stiles would forget about him. He didn’t have too many friends at school and he just felt this connection with Stiles that he hadn’t gotten with anyone present in Beacon Hills for so long.

Then he was there when the taxi pulled up and the well-dressed man stepped out, he greeted Stiles with a hug and a quick check to see if he was okay before he stepped to the side and greeted the sheriff who wore his annoyance on his face without change.

When Stiles moved the man over to where Scott was stood Scott suddenly felt the pressure of it all.

“Dr Saltzman, this is Scott.”

The man smiled, he looked friendly, then he offered his hand.

“Alaric please, and it’s a pleasure to meet you, Scott. I’m glad that Stiles has finally made a friend here, we worried he never would.”

Scott found he couldn’t speak but Alaric didn’t seem deterred.

Stiles watched as his dad walked over to his cruiser and got in, he’d thought his dad might have gotten the day off from work to spend their last hours together but Stiles had spent an entire summer in California and he saw his dad only a quarter of the time. Something had changed between them and Stiles knew for certain it was all the time they didn’t spend together.

Alaric clapped Stiles on the shoulder and steered him back towards where Scott was still awkwardly stood. The sheriff was long since gone.

“Say boys is there anywhere good for food here, I didn’t manage to grab a bite on the plane over here.”

Scott nodded, he scratched at his head before he spoke, “there’s a fast food place in town a couple of blocks between the school and the sheriff's station.”

“And we can walk there?”

Stiles nodded, “It’s about a thirty-minute walk.”

Alaric nodded, they had a plan.

* * *

Scott thanked him again for paying for the food as they sat down, Stiles grinned behind his burger knowing he finally felt like he was going home with Alaric insisting everything was fine.

“So Scott,” Alaric set his burger down, “you attend the high school here, how is that?”

Scott shrugged and swallowed his bite of burger, “pretty normal, we only started Monday so we’re just getting back in the groove of things. I’m on the bench again this year so it looks like the years going to be much the same.”

Alaric bit out a laugh, “why would you say that?”

“Just how it goes, no one really wants to be relying on the asthmatic kid to win the match. Though I guess my only friend moving away after meeting me could constitute as a bad thing. So maybe everything will remain normal from now.”

Stiles grinned at his friend, “you spoil me with compliments Scotty.”

Alaric rolled his eyes, “you and Penelope are going to cause trouble this year I can just see it. You have more attitude, how can you have more attitude not talking to anyone for a whole summer.”

“Correction, I spoke to Penelope, just because the school doesn’t have texting privileges doesn’t mean we don’t have them.”

“Well, I understand if the two of you want to keep in touch over the school year, this will be fine so long as you don’t tell anyone I let you do this and you do not let it distract you from your studies.”

Stiles’ eyes went wide as he stared at his headmaster.

“Seriously? Dr Saltzman that’s epic. Thank you so much.”

Alaric shook his head, “I don’t want you retreating in on yourself again, I have a feeling your father won’t let you come to school much longer and I want you to be able to survive outside of boarding school.”

Stiles suddenly became forlorn, “why does he not want me to attend anymore?”

“It’s probably the distance, Stiles, but this is something we can discuss when the time comes. For now, we have a couple of hours before we need to go back to the airport. I think you should spend that time with your dad. I will meet you at your house at 6.”

* * *

The sheriff was stoic when he waved them off in the taxi, the way he squeezed his son they knew he still cared but there was just something not right and Stiles hated that his father didn’t trust him enough to tell him what it is.

He worried that the rest of his school year would be overshadowed by knowing this was likely his last year.

* * *

The taxi back to the Salvatore school felt like a relief after so much time away, but the twenty minutes more with his headmaster was silence he looked forward to. It seemed Alaric wasn’t on the same page.

“I’m glad you made a friend there.”

Stiles nodded, “only met him in the last couple of days. Got in big trouble with my dad but I like the guy.”

“I’m glad you’ve put roots down there, they may only be shallow right now but I can see that you might be good friends. It’s progress, Stiles.”

“Don’t get all sappy on me now doc, we’re too close, I need stern Saltzman.” He teased with a grin.

“You’ll regret asking for that when we get back.”

“I’m sure I will. Thanks for coming to get me though.”

“Yeah, well, Penelope was getting on my case for letting you stay away as long as you did.”

“Ah yes, the persuasive powers of Penelope Park.”

Alaric laughed at that, everything was sliding back into place at least for this year. They would get to next year when the time came, right now he could already think of a number of things he needed to fix before then.

* * *

Penelope was in his room by the time he made it back. Bags dropped in the doorway and a dopey smile on his face as he greeted her in person for the first time in three months.

His roommate Wade had likely escaped as soon as she’d made her presence known. She was laid out on his bed as if she was trying to seduce him. He knew better.

“Miss Park, I feel as if you have bad intentions for me.”

“You have been a very bad boy. Leaving me alone with the witch-bitch anything could have happened.”

“Well, perhaps you should punish me.”

Her face split into a huge grin as she tugged him towards her with magic. He crashed onto his bed beside her and dissolved into his own laughter. He adjusted himself on the bed and tossed an arm around her shoulder drawing her towards him.

“Seriously missed you, P.”

“Glad to hear you haven’t replaced me with that new friend of yours. Scout was it?”

“You know its Scott. And no one is replacing you miss Penelope Park, my other dark half. I could not live without you.”

“And don’t you forget it.” She poked his chest with her finger before she leant bag into him and rested her head on his shoulder.

They lay together as they had done since they first became friends for a good ten minutes before Stiles finally broke the silence.

“So tell me about your crush, have you done anything about it yet?”

Penelope shoved at him, “shut up!”

“Oh, I’ve touched a nerve, have I? I thought nothing scared Penelope Park. Don’t tell me Josie Saltzman scares Penelope Park.”

She curled up on her side and buried her head in his chest, her hits were soft and without malicious intent. It brought a smile to his face and he only shifted them so she was more comfortable.

When she eventually got a hold of her blush she righted herself in his arms and shifted away.

“I just, the amount I like her, Stiles god I sound like such a girl.”

“You are a girl. And hey, nothing is wrong with that. You’re allowed to like someone, and Josie is as good as anyone to fall for if you had said Lizzie Saltzman on the other hand-”

She jabbed him in the ribs but her eyes were light, they both knew the other was joking, it was just the way they were with one another, it was just the way they had always been.

“Stiles I just don’t want to ruin it. But I don’t know if she likes me that way.”

“Then we will find out, you deserve to be happy, and if I can help I will. I’m scared that this might be my last year here if I can help you with Josie before I leave I think I’ll feel better.”

Penelope stared at him dead in the eyes, scared, “what do you mean your last year?”

“Dad wants me normal. He hates that I’m here and I’m magic. Dr Saltzman thinks he would have enrolled me in public school if he hadn’t come to get me.”

“Then we just do that next year too.”

“Dad had already paid tuition for this year. If he doesn’t for next year I won’t have a choice.”

“But this is your home!”

“It is and it always will be there’s no changing that. But its a problem we’ll have to deal with later, right now I suggest we just focus on this year.”

“We will find a solution to that problem. I don’t want to be here if you’re not.”

Stiles smiled into her hair, tears rolling down his face. He looked forward to finding that solution, and even if he didn’t at least he had this year to say goodbye.


	3. Chapter 3

School was as much a relief as it was a heavy weight of knowledge teetering on Stiles’ shoulders, he wished he didn’t know that his father was considering taking him away from the school. His mind wandered as he sat in his classes and he spent much of his time detached from the world. 

The brief periods of relief in his detached state came when he was with Penelope. His childhood best friend and the closest person to him in his entire life. They were partners in crime, each other's closest confidants and part-time lovers. They were everything you needed in a relationship without the complicated parts, made uncomplicated by the exact knowledge that neither one was attracted to the other. 

They were the closest type of chosen family, a bond that began when Penelope first started at the school. He’d already been there three insufferable years before she appeared, she was rude and she was outspoken and she didn’t care that no one spoke to him, she saw someone she wanted to be friends with and nothing was going to stop her. 

She followed him around as if he had the answers to all of her questions, the angry older boy who didn’t want anything to do with anyone and she was convinced she could break down his walls. She wasn’t wrong. He caved almost as soon as he caught one of the older witches mocking her when her parents weren’t coming to get her for Christmas. 

They were too alike for him not to feel a connection, it was really one of the reasons he hadn’t wanted the connection, he hadn’t wanted a reminder that so many of them were shipped off to this school to get away from what they were. 

Teachers seemed relieved when they saw him talking to others, separating himself from the shadows he had become so comfortable with and laughing with other kids, he was one of the broken ones they always had their eye on him. They soon came to regret their relief when the trouble the two witches got into overweighed most things. They were too similar and remarkably good at getting themselves out of the trouble. 

They’d both had trouble getting along with the other witches, the ones too caught up in their own ready-made friendship groups to make more friends, the ones that wanted to only associate with their same magic type, the ones that were too close to their family to let anyone else in. 

Stiles’ magic had been too dark to commit to cooperation spells. It always reacted badly with anyone else’s. He was much too powerful to want to commit to anything where he could siphon energy, he could drain them and he didn’t want to see where that would go. The only one he was in spitting distance to on the power scale was Hope Mikaelson and the edgy atmosphere she radiated kept most away. 

They were cordial though, they needed to be. The Alaric Saltzman support group mostly consisted of the two of them beating the shit out of one another until one of them actually landed a blow. Their family life meant that often their school year Hope would be absent and Stiles’ summers were when he most needed to blow off steam. They were friendly and they trusted one another but they never felt as comfortable with one another as Penelope and Stiles. They were special. 

The Lizzie and Josie situation was as much a situation to Stiles and Hope as it was to Penelope. Penelope always rubbed Lizzie the wrong way, her ability to always find the right buttons to press never helped, and Josie was always there to condemn Penelope while consoling her angry sister. 

Hope and Stiles felt the same outsider feeling whenever they approached that bubble that came from being fraternal twins from a family where their mom wasn’t biological and their parents were just friends forced together out of this weird situation. No one could relate to that, well maybe Hope but no one liked to talk about the original vampire situation of it all. Especially Hope. 

The tribrid thing was one thing never mind that her entire lineage was like golden powerful, Stiles always wondered where in his lineage was that spark because there was no way he could have been within spitting distance of Hope Mikaelson without something unicorn in his bloodline. 

Hope was actively spending a lot of time between home in New Orleans and the school that year, and that much was made clear to him the minute he returned back to the school. Everyone knew the bare bones of what had happened to her family the prior year and it was quite difficult to even try putting into words the sympathy they felt for her. 

Stiles had stuck with a simple card with condolences and his number scrawled inside just in case she ever wanted to speak to someone. 

They’d traded memes sporadically during the summer but it had never moved to anything from that, which was not at all a surprise to him at all. 

The main thing Stiles was dead set on focusing upon this year was his plans to get Josie and Penelope together, he was a meddler it wasn’t anything new. But he could see the potential there and he just wanted his best friend happy even if it did bother Lizzie like a bad rash. 

He could see them talking across the room, he was supposed to be reading but he was staring at them over the spine of his leather-bound book from the library. Penelope was blushing like crazy and Josie was smiling. He loved his friends and he wished them all the good in a world that was abhorrently evil for people like them. 

“What are you doing?”

Stiles jumped from his thoughts, book landing shut on his lap. His eyes sought the amused ones of the vampire that had managed to sneak up on him in the common room. 

MG rounded the armchair that the broody witch was sat in, he perched on the arm of the chair closest and glanced to where Josie and Penelope were still talking unknowing of their silent witnesses. 

“Just catching up on some of the reading I missed, MG, you know I really value my education.”

MG chuckled and thumbed at the faded title on the leather-bound book, “must be an interesting read that, ‘Magic of the Virgin Sacrifices of the Past’, you planning something special for your thesis?”

Stiles blinked at the cover until the letters lined back up, he’d been having some issue with reading as of late, he hadn’t really put together that he’d picked up this stellar book. 

“Oh yeah, an extra special birthday present for Dr Saltzman.”

MG grinned and glanced back at the two flirting witches, “they look good together.”

“Yeah, they do, I just want P happy.”

“She looks it, Lizzie doesn’t though.”

Stiles turned in his comfortable chair to see the fiery blonde striding towards them a stoic expression to her face. Stiles recoiled some before he deposited the book in the chair and tried to get to the two girls before Lizzie had the chance to quash this happy little flame before it really burnt. 

He chanced a look over his shoulder to catch MG trying to convince Lizzie that they should study together sometime, that it wasn’t a date, even if he wouldn’t mind a date. He grinned slightly but quickened his pace at the exasperated expression on Lizzie’s face. 

He slid onto the table to the left of them and smiled apologetically at the intrusion. 

“Hello, ladies, Jos explosion Lizzie on route. Calm the lovefest.”

Penelope straightened up from where she was considerably exaggeratedly leaning over Josie, the flintiness replaced with sheer awkwardness. Josie coughed awkwardly and her fingers flitted over the pages of her open notebook. 

“We weren’t-”

Stiles scoffed silencing Josie’s plea of innocence before it ruined anything that was still lingering. 

“Don’t care about that, you’re cute together. Just saving it before all the hard work goes to shit.”

Penelope jabbed him in the ribs and glared at him. He pulled a ringlet of her hair and poked his tongue out in response, Josie began to smile at their childish antics but it dropped when Lizzie finally managed to drop MG. The vamp was lingering in the corner of the room hope present on his face. Stiles shot him a thumbs up when none of the girls were paying him any attention. 

“Josie I need you. I'm not interrupting anything am I?”

Lizzie glared at Penelope who sneered back with half a smile. 

Stiles shook his head and leant back against the table, “we were just about to get naked and discuss virgin sacrifices, want to join.”

Lizzie looked scandalised, Stiles smirked at her and leaned his chin against Penelope’s shoulder, his arm strung around her waist. 

“Just because the two of you are comfortable with one another doesn’t mean you should have to make everyone else deal with it too. Come on Josie.”

Josie gathered her things and shot a quick smile at Penelope before she was trailing after her sister as she always was. 

Stiles threw his arm around his friend's shoulder and steered her the direct the twins walked off in, “ooh P looks like you made a love connection!”

She jabbed him in the ribs again before she turned around and wrapped her arms around his waist, “I love you so much sometimes Stiles.”

“Wow, if I’d known saving you from the wrath of Lizzie Saltzman got me this affectionate with you Park I would have started earlier.” 

He teased her with a grin and a return of the hug, she chuckled into his chest before she straightened up, collected herself and began to walk away. 

She spun around to wink at him as he walked, “come on Stilinski, I’m feeling peckish, lunch?”

“Anywhere you go, I go Park. I am thoroughly whipped.”

He jogged to catch up with her and buried his hands in his pockets as he walked, he knocked his shoulder into hers playfully. 

He was enjoying this year, he just had to forget about what was looming at the end of it. He didn’t need that trauma, there was time yet.


	4. Chapter 4

He stood in the middle of the empty gym, sweat was dripping down his bare chest as it heaved with breaths his lungs demanded. His head still pounded and his nerves hadn’t quit. The staff in his hand still felt foreign, he’d been at this for three hours since he’d woken with the splitting headache he was still trying to fight now.

He knew where it came from, well he had an inkling. It was something in his magic that the school’s councillor had been trying to identify with him since he’d started at the school. They’d read every book they could find that could help it relate to something, nothing had worked.

The most they had found about his elemental and natural abilities was the quarterstaff which was a traditional European pole weapon from the early modern period. His own was made of Alder wood, it coincided with the lunar month's calendar that linked to the Celtic tree lore that seemed most consistent with what he bonded with.

It was carved by his own hand with runic symbols that turned the once smooth wood into a rough and bumpy mess. But it thrummed in his hands and he felt most at peace when he was running meditation drills while practising spinning it between his fingers. The work was hard and he strained to connect with his inner spark while he worked at it, but sometimes it didn’t click. This was one of those times.

It was three days to the full moon and he felt an itch beneath his skin, something was troubling him but he couldn’t put his finger on the cause of it. His episodes tended to kick in around the full moon, there had been the worry that perhaps he was a hybrid witch and werewolf but he never turned he just suffered through the pain of it with them.

There was something about him that was inherently linked to the supernatural even if they hadn’t managed to find out what it meant just yet. He felt a loss of himself to not knowing.

Every other witch had a particular skill set, Penelope was intellectually gifted, Lizzie and Josie were siphons and he was the freak that had to channel Celtic runes to even get the power he wanted.

He stabbed the staff to the side beside him and felt the ripple of power rock his feet and swing the doors shut where they had been propped open earlier that morning. He cringed but felt the pain in the top of his mind ebb and release some. It had been what he was aiming for, he just hadn’t expected to rock the whole building to do it.

He swung the staff over his shoulder in his decision to leave it at that for this morning. He was exhausted already and it would do no good to overdo it even if it did stop some of the pain. He could just take a couple of Tylenol and at least that would dim it some for the next couple of hours.

Dorian was rubbing his eyes where Stiles passed him leaving the library. He smiled sheepishly at the tired librarian who shook his head upon realising it was only Stiles that had woken him. They were worried about bursts of power in this school, and he hadn’t had an outburst like it since his mother had first died. Stiles worried that he was devolving but he couldn’t let it weigh too heavily on him.

He could hear the other students all moving grudgingly, woken harshly and unable to sink back into the welcoming arms of sleep that had eluded him that morning.

He disappeared back into his room and set his staff down behind the door. Wade was sat up in his bed, hair a mess and glasses askew on his nose.

“Was that you?”

“Sorry. Had to release some energy.”

Wade rubbed at his eyes moving his glasses further off centre on his nose.

“Thought it was an earthquake first, but then I saw you weren’t in bed and your staff was gone.”

Stiles nodded, he’d never much talked to Wade, the boy was much too observant for Stiles’ tastes and he liked to think that Wade was certain he already knew what Stiles was going to say before he said it. He didn’t need that especially when the ADHD part of him meant he didn’t even know what he was going to say before he said it most of the time.

“Yeah well, at least no one will be late for classes.”

Wade shrugged and clambered lazily out of bed. The kid had never been late for classes, Stiles often skipped, it was something of contention for the both of them. Stiles didn’t much care.

He pulled his towel down from the hook inside of his wardrobe and toed off his trainers, a shower really sounded nice right about now.

* * *

Alaric had called him into his office just before his second class was about to start. He’d been having a good day since his release and he’d started a good streak, about to attend two classes in the space of a day that would have been new.

The man sat behind his desk, tired eyes buried behind the palms of his hands as they both sat there in silence for longer than either one wanted to be there.

“Dorian told me the source of our wake up call this morning was you. Want to explain?”

Stiles shrugged, “It was an accident. I wanted to get some energy out when I woke up all itchy at 5 so I went to the gym with my staff. Killer headache wouldn’t go away even with the meditation drills that used to work so I hit the ground with the staff and I released some of the power in me. It’s what woke everyone up.”

Alaric nodded and pulled his head out of his hands, “I know the full moon is coming, but do you think you’re having issues with your magic because of the situation with your dad. Maybe you think if you aren’t in control we can’t let your dad send you to public school next year?”

Stiles shrugged his shoulders, eyes dropping to the palms of his hands that were calloused and rough. He’d been thinking about that situation a lot more than he probably should have been, that was for sure. He hadn’t thought that it could have affected the control of his magic though. He would have liked if he could stay at the school but he knew his dad wouldn’t let that happen no matter what he had to do to make it so. This was Stiles’ last year and he just had to get over it.

“I’m sorry.”

Alaric’s energy shot up and his exhaustion faded, his eyes seeking Stiles and his defeated position.

“You have nothing to apologise for. It’s a tough situation that your father isn’t making any easier, not when we still haven’t figured out the crux of your abilities. We aren’t giving up on you just because you are leaving the school next year, you are as much one of my students now as you will be then. We just have to create some more methods for you to get a handle on your abilities, and we have the time for that. Everything will be fine, Stiles.”

Stiles furiously rubbed at the stray tear leaking its way down his face. These people were his family and he would never forget it, not with Alaric saying things like this.

“I can’t forget that this is my last year. That this is the last year I’ll watch MG pine over Lizzie, the last year I will fight with Hope to get my feelings in check, the last year you and Emma try and figure out what I am. The last I get to spend with Penelope. I’m constantly trying to convince myself that I should do things because it's my last year and it hurts.”

He was crying now, there was no stopping it, his eyes trained on his hands as his thumbs rubbed harsh circles on his palms.

“That’s understandable, but just because this is your last year here does not mean that this is your last year of life. Emma and I will always be looking to solve the question of what you are, I’m sure MG will continue pining over Lizzie and I’m almost certain that Penelope will not let you out of her life forever without a real fight.”

Stiles laughed, it was wet and pathetic. He knew Alaric was telling the truth, he could see his friends again even if it wasn’t all the time at the school, it wouldn’t be the same being permanently in touch over the phone like he and Penelope over summer but it would be enough for some of the time. As soon as he was eighteen he wouldn’t have to stick around with his dad, he could come straight back to his family and they wouldn’t want him to hide that he was a witch, that he was magic.

He would miss them next year but he would be able to see them again. He knew that he just had to believe it.

“Thank you.”

“Anytime Stiles, just treat this year as normal and we will face next year, next year. And if you need me to tell you all this again I will, you’re a good kid.”

Stiles laughed and wiped at his eyes with his hands and rubbed his nose against his sleeve it wasn’t good but he didn’t care at this point. He nodded wetly and decided to leave before he put them in any other position that wasn’t normal for them.

Alaric made no move to stop him and Stiles would always be thankful for that.

* * *

Penelope found him at lunch, the dark circles around his eyes a stark reminder that he could have woken the entirety of Virginia this morning and he wouldn’t have even known.

She waved her hand at him to stop his inevitable apology, “not you dipshit, you did wake me up but I spent half the night up talking to Jo so you can’t take all the credit.”

“P, you devil!” She hushed him with a smack and a deep glare that could possibly have made Wade wet himself from across the room.

His mood was up considerably, Alaric mainly but remembering that he still had a life here was enough to drag him out of the depths and depravity of his mind palace of self-pity.

“What were you up talking about?”

He was ducked low across the table, words hushed and eyes excited. She rolled her eyes at him as she continued eating her carrot sticks.

“Mostly nothing, but everything.”

“Don’t hold out! I’m living vicariously through you at this point.”

She shook her head at him but still scanned the room for a familiar blonde brunette duo. This was all so new she didn’t want to mess it up.

“Favourite foods, best film from this decade, music choices, what we think of MG’s thing for Lizzie. It was nothing but the best kind.”

He grinned at her, full and unstoppable. He loved that she was happy, that when she spoke about the calmer Saltzman she just got this dopey unhidden Penelope Park smile that lit up her entire face. He would sacrifice himself if he got to keep the two of them together, he cared about it all that much.

“How did Lizzie not hear you?”

“We spelled diaries.”

“Letters, you conversed over letters. How very 17th-century love story of you Lady Park.”

“Why thank you stable hand Stilinski.”

“I would be offended but I think I would look very fetching in baggy clothing, suspenders covered in horse shit. No gentleman would have been able to keep their eyes away from me.”

“But they would have stayed away, you would have stunk up their well to do home. Never mind waking them before the sun rises every morning.”

“Hey! I let you call me dipshit, don’t you ruin my 17th-century fantasies.”

She giggled and retaliated with the really mature act of sticking her tongue out at him only for him to respond in similar fashion matched with the crossing of his eyes that took them both back to a calmer time.

Josie frowned at the two laughing friends as she sat down on their table, awfully close to Penelope but not close enough to be seen anything of it if not already aware of it.

Stiles’ eyes twinkled as he watched the two of them. The blush of greeting one another present upon the two girls. He looked forward to them having a good year.

“What’s so funny?”

Stiles jumped until he realised he should have been aware that where brunette came blonde too. But the appearance of Lizzie Saltzman on his left opposite Josie on the other side of the table.

Stiles caught his laughter with a cough before he spoke, “just discussing historical period dramas.”

Penelope nodded, “yeah Stiles thinks some wealthy gentleman would take him even if he was covered in horse shit. I disagreed.”

He picked up one of her carrot sticks and threw it at her. She laughed and shook her head at him, they were both more carefree than they had been since they were much younger and he was eternally glad for it especially after the day he’d had.

Lizzie rolled her eyes at them completely missing the adoring smiles Josie and Penelope were sharing right in front of her eyes. Stiles was thankful for the blonde’s narcissistic obliviousness, especially now. He couldn’t always be a distraction for the budding romance even if he was a beautiful distraction.

“So what are we all thinking of doing for our independent projects in witchcraft?”

Stiles frowned at her question, turning his gaze to where he knew it would be answered, the other side of the table.

Penelope took pity on him, “Emma assigned it the class you got called to see Dr Saltzman. We just have to choose an aspect of witchcraft that has some link to us and create a presentation on it for next week.”

Stiles nodded, it made sense, plus he had loads of things that he could choose from that was magic that linked to him.

Lizzie turned to the other girls who’d both had time to think about her question longer than a few seconds like Stiles.

Josie shrugged, “We share the same history Lizzie, what have you chosen?”

Lizzie shook her head, “I’m thinking the history of siphons. We could do our project together?”

Josie frowned, “I think it would be interesting to do two different things. I want to do some more research first before I make a choice. What about you Penelope?”

“Telekinesis probably. Stiles, you given it any thought?”

He looked up from his fingers with a questioning sound before he shrugged, “I guess I could do Celtic rune power or tree lore.”

Lizzie laughed, “you could explain how you woke the entire school up before the break of day this morning, I thought I didn’t have control, no wonder my dad had to go get you from home before you let the cat out of the bag.”

Penelope fixed a glare at the insensitive blonde and Josie hissed at her sister. Stiles froze for a second but found he didn’t rise to it, he’d spent a long time at the school mocking the unstable blonde and she was only getting back at him in her own way now. He didn’t blame her at all.

“I’m sorry I woke everyone up, I’ve had a tough start to the year that started even before I got here. I’ve been dealing with it, hopefully, it should get better from here. If you’ll excuse me, my next class starts in ten minutes.”

He rose up from the table, squeezed Penelope’s hand as he left but said little else.

Penelope’s eyes were hard on Lizzie as he left, she really did like Josie but she had no idea how someone so nice could have shared a womb with someone so evil.

“Nice tact there Saltzman. Like he isn’t feeling the pressure already, I’ll see you later.”

She rose from the table next and raced to catch her friend.

Lizzie looked shocked to Josie who was also not pleased with her actions.

“What did I do?”

“He’s had a hard time at home. His dad is threatening to take him out of the school and he’s been really suffering with it.”

“I thought he liked it at home. He always wanted to go back when we were kids.”

“No Lizzie, he wanted his mom. She died two weeks after he came here. His outbursts were worse than yours when he was younger, his dad didn’t want him around her like that and he wouldn’t even let him home for the funeral.”

“How do you know so much about him?”

“We were friends when we were younger. He isn’t so secretive about his life, he’ll tell you if you’re nice enough.”

“Don’t know why he made friends with Penelope Park then.”

Josie shoved her notebook in her bag and left the table before she said anything more threatening to their new secret not-so-much-a-relationship-relationship. She valued it too much to ruin it now.


	5. Chapter 5

Stiles lay reclined on his made-up bed, tossing an energy ball into the air and then directing it back towards his hands so he could catch it. The girls were chattering excitedly at the foot of his bed, shoulders pressed together and heads held close.

They’d convened in his room to do their witchcraft projects. At this point, Stiles knew he was just a buffer to the outside eyes to hide what was really brewing between Penelope and Josie. He didn’t mind one bit.

He winced slightly as he missed the exact form for catching an energy ball and burnt his finger. He hissed between gritted teeth and shook it out all the while dispelling the concentrated energy into the room.

Penelope looked across at him and shook her head, “I thought Dr Saltzman taught you that to dispel some of the pent up energy you always need to get rid of. It’s not to make you look more cartoon warlock than you already do.”

Josie had leant forward to whisper a healing spell into his finger while Stiles responded to Penelope in the most childish way he could muster, sticking his tongue out.

“Can’t have anyone thinking they can cross me.”

She shook his head at him but didn’t turn back to the pretence that he wasn’t there too. She fiddled with her fingers before looking up from the little work she’d gotten done.

“Why do you never want to talk about your magic?”

Stiles froze then shrugged, “it’s hard being the one person here that is different. My mom taught me some before she died, I think maybe that’s the way I was supposed to be brought up. Because no one here knows my magic and I feel the most connected to it in the place I feel least at home. I don’t channel what I can do through spells, as much as I pretend to in classes, it’s more of a gut feeling to me. I’m already seen as an outsider here, I don’t need it confirmed.”

Josie blinked at him, she’d never thought of it that way. Sure it made sense, and it definitely explained why most of their childhood she wouldn’t see him where her father had squirrelled him away to try to control those bursts of energy rolling from him. He was powerful but he also didn’t know to what extent, he was an inexplicable untapped energy source.

“You should talk about that in class.”

Stiles shook his head, “I don’t need that. I trust you guys but I don’t need people wanting to talk to me after that. I’m leaving at the end of this year I’d rather just run it like all the previous times. Plus I’ve already prepared my presentation on Celtic tree lore. The reason my staff is made of what it is and what the runes I’ve carved up the sides represent.”

Penelope nodded, she recognised the defeat in his tone, one they shared for many different reasons.

Josie shared an equally sad look with her friend but there was little they could do to cheer him up at this point. His mood had really depended on the looming end of the year, even if they were only really at the start of this one.

The looming end to their time with him made everything especially increasingly dark, you could tell he was resigned to not putting up a fight and that was nowhere near the personality Stiles expelled on a daily basis.

They had to fight to get him out of this mood or the rest of this year would be as much as if he had already been gone and no one wanted that, it was just the fight to knowing how to get him out of this funk that was entirely the problem. Both girls were up to the task and that’s what made the light at the end of the tunnel feasible, they wanted to make this year one to remember even while he went to go live the rest of his time back in the home town he hated. They wanted that for him, especially when he seemed to hate his father.

They’d have to recruit some of the others, and as much as they knew some of them feared Stiles in his moody unsociable way they were determined for it.

* * *

Stiles span his staff around beside him as he waited in the corridor outside the classroom for their teacher to set up. It was presentations week and they couldn’t take too many precautions when students were to discuss their magic, they were only bound to demonstrate it.

His hands moved idly while his mind remained elsewhere. Penelope and Josie were to meet him here but he was decidedly early, something had been bugging him ever since he came back to school those few weeks ago. He’d chalked it up to fearing the looming end of his time here, but as he accepted that fact more and more he had figured the feeling might go away, if anything it only intensified.

He blinked back to reality to find a wide-eyed Lizzie Saltzman staring at him from down the corridor. He let the staff fall still at his side and watched as the purple haze that had surrounded him faded away, that had never happened before and he was sure going to discuss it at his weekly meetings with his lore instructor. He offered her a weak smile before he rested himself against the stone wall and tried to recall the movements his hands were making with his staff, so long as Lizzie didn’t say anything to anyone he could still remain the weird Stiles everyone knew him to be.

A hand on his arm snapped him out of his second trance that hour and he found Penelope smiling cheekily at him in the newly crowded corridor.

“Looking tired, don’t tell me you’ve finally found someone to scratch that itch of yours.”

Stiles grimaced and rolled his eyes, “ew, you know no one here floats my boat. You’ve picked up the last eligible specimen in this petri dish, I can admit that and I’m not into girls.”

Penelope laughed and settled herself down into his side as he wrapped his free arm around her shoulders. He sighed into the side of her head before he rested his cheek against her head, “I think I outed myself to Lizzie Saltzman.”

“Stiles I’m pretty sure even Dr Saltzman knows that you’re gay.”

“Not what I meant, P. I got caught up in my thoughts when I was here earlier, did something with my staff and when I opened my eyes I was covered in a purple haze, I have a feeling she saw all of it.”

“Oh shit, you don’t think she’s gonna tell everyone, I can ask Jo?”

“I wouldn’t get her involved P if they find out, then they find out. I’ve wasted enough time fretting about it now. I’m gonna go in there give a kickass presentation about Celtic tree lore and my connection to it and then hopefully they will all choose to see me as completely boring and we’ll leave it at that.”

“They’d be stupid to think you’re boring Stiles. I won’t say anything to Jo, but if she says anything to me you’re the first person I tell.”

He kissed the side of her head and leaned away from the wall, they were finally letting students into the room, “sounds good to me, P.”

* * *

Stiles hooted and cheered from the back of the classroom as Josie finished her presentation on the Bennett clan and their connection to her family, everyone sort of knew the gist of what happened all those years ago but no one would really discuss it. It was just one of those unspoken rules, especially if you didn’t want to see Dr Saltzman day drinking again.

Josie sat down beside Meg Bartlett again and Stiles hid his chuckle as he watched Penelope furiously scribble her praises down on paper before blowing the words towards her. His one true friend was not-so-secretly a romantic and he loved that about her.

He elbowed her in the ribs good-naturedly and she hid her blush behind the palms of her hands, though he wasn’t amiss to the smile lighting up her whole face.

Emma looked over the papers in her hands, the rotor that she had created randomly to predict the next presentation which led them to points of utter panic for the students who ended up first or last in that list.

“Stiles, you’re next.”

Penelope squeezed his hand as he stood up, fetching his staff from behind him and stalking to the front. His palms were sweaty but he knew Emma, Penelope and Josie were the only ones he was really talking to, he didn’t care about what anyone else thought of it. This was his truth even if it was only part of it.

“My presentation is on Celtic tree lore, it’s one of the basis’ to my powers mostly represented by this quarterstaff. This is made of Alder wood which coincides with my lunar birth month. It’s what felt most right to me before I even knew about Celtic tree lore. It’s been hard to piece together what magical lineage I belong too as my line was mostly passed down in the Polish side of my family, the polish side that was painfully reduced during the Holocaust of World War Two before my great grandmother escaped with her family to America. The last link to my family line was my mother and she died just after I started coming here.

“Alder trees were decidedly sacred to druids and has been generally associated with protection and oracle type abilities. I don’t have those, which sucks for all those tests we have coming up but the idea of protection resonates with me to a degree so I’d like to stick to that ideal for the time being, at least until we narrow it down better.

“There are several deities that have been partnered with the alder tree such as Bran, Apollo, Odin and King Arthur. There is an abundance of fairy tales and warning sings dedicated to the alder tree stating its sacred nature and how it has protected many a species.

“My staff helps me to channel some of my energy out of me before I let it out violently, it’s as much the same as a wand might be to someone who doesn’t practice your type of magic. That’s my presentation.”

He smiled as he lowered his staff to his side, he’d gotten caught up in explaining himself but as he returned his attention to Penelope at the back, she was shooting him a wide-eyed grin and two thumbs up, he couldn’t help the real smile that warmed his face.

Emma was the only one clapping as he finished and he didn’t much mind. Josie seemed to have taken an abundance of notes and he was sure that he was bound to have to ask some questions later that night but he didn’t mind that either. It felt nice to share some of what he was with people he wanted to relate too.

“Does anyone have any questions for Stiles after his presentation?”

Stiles felt his good mood dim as Lizzie Saltzman’s hand shot into the air.

“If your magic has never ever resembled any of our how come you still attend all of our classes. The vampires don’t attend witchcraft because they don’t need it, from what I see you don’t need it either?”

“I’ve found that learning as you do opens up my mind to things I can do myself. I actually quite like seeing how you all get on with it even when it takes me more attempts.”

“If you’re allowed to watch us practice how come we can’t watch you practice. You get taken out of classes once a week to spend with either my dad or Hope but we never get to see what you do. Seems a bit unfair.”

“I worry if I’m going to hurt anyone. Hope heals, your dad doesn’t stay for my sessions. It’s dangerous - I can be dangerous.”

His hands gripped at his staff, he felt like he was in front fo an inquisition, it pained him to admit that all of this made sense. He got to see them at their breaking point and he was hidden away to be destructive in peace. It was entirely what he didn’t want - favouritism.

Emma looked as if she wanted to intervene but Lizzie wasn’t done, “if you’re so dangerous why does your dad want you home?”

“He thinks that this is what killed my mom, he doesn’t want to even consider anything else. He wants me to give up on this like it isn’t my whole life, like this won’t kill me if I don’t get a handle on it, you’re all okay because you could live with your magic dormant inside of you. If I don’t tame this spark inside of me I will self destruct, that’s why I’m here, that’s why I practice, why I connect with the way all of you learn, why they let me practice in the gym when everyone is supposed to be asleep. Why I’m tired all the time because I do not know what I am and I don’t know how to control it enough that I won’t die. This is just an instrument, it has as much power as I let it have, I need an extension of myself to release some tension, this is just the only way I know how to.”

He sucked in a deep breath and caught the tears in Penelope’s eyes. He turned to Emma to see her shocked at his outburst, everyone knew he didn’t like to talk about it but Lizzie was volatile and he saw no way out from what she’d seen. This was his only way out.

He rubbed at his eyes with his free hand before he calmed his breathing down enough to address his teacher properly, “may I be excused?”

She nodded and he was out of there as fast as he could maintain. No destination in mind, only out.


	6. Chapter 6

She found him in the woods, crouched down in the leafy undergrowth his hands cupped around a withered tickseed flower, nurturing it back to health in order to at least expel a little bit of what was thundering around inside of him.

She sat down on one of the fallen logs behind him, unsure as to whether he knew she was there or not, but she was willing to wait until he wanted to speak to someone.

“Hey, Hope.”

His voice was small and exhausted, he still hadn’t turned back to look at her.

“I wasn’t certain you knew I was here.”

He laughed but it was harsh and broken, this was why they were friends two kids utterly torn down by the situations they had been born into, the only way out was to get a handle on it even if other people didn’t quite fully understand it.

“We’ve been through this before, your aura is like a whippet its hard to believe you’re so calm when it is whizzing all over the place like this.”

“It’s all magic, it’s why we’re here isn’t it?”

He wiped his hands off on his trousers before he stood up to face her, she could see the fully-grown flower standing stark yellow amongst the brown of the floor. It was always hard knowing where his strengths lay but she knew he liked to heal things.

He sat himself down on the log beside her, nudging her knee with his, “how are you? I didn’t expect you back so soon?”

“Couldn’t stay there too long. It hurts too much. Dr Saltzman came and got me this morning. I heard you no longer have witch classes, what’s with that?”

“Sort of outed my warlock-type abilities to one Lizzie Saltzman. She wasn’t keen on having me in with them anymore so I’m pretty much just boarding here now with therapy once a week.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah.”

He rubbed a couple of leaves together in his palms as he broke them up into little pieces, he held his flat palm up to his mouth and blew, the leaves scattered in the air becoming static before they burnt up gold and fluttered into nothingness on the floor.

“Is that what you’ve been doing out here?”

He shrugged and pushed his hands into his hoodie pockets, “some, Emma cast a protection around the school so I can be as destructive as I want or need to be and it won’t get past the gates nor will it break the house in two. I think they’re looking forward to when they don’t have to deal with me next year.”

“No, Stiles, come on. No one thinks that.”

She tried to reason with him as she slipped her hand around his wrist, looking to save him in their connection. He gave her a watery smile and laughed.

“The people I care about don’t want me gone, that’s a positive. But you can’t live with everyone fearing you for the rest of time. You should try to make more friends here, Hope.”

“There isn’t anyone here I would put the effort in for. We have a year, let's not start planning for when you’ve gone before you have gone. That puts an entire downer on the rest of the year. You and I can do whatever we want this year, no one is going to argue with me for not wanting to attend classes and they’ve already practically exiled you. I say this year should be fun, leave you with some lasting memories before you disappear back to California.”

She nudged his shoulder with hers, her grin contagious as he laughed and rested his head against her shoulder, moments like this he was truly going to miss. people who actually understood him, even if he was essentially exiled to the woods to practice where he could hurt no one.

He’d take a year of fun with Hope over anything else that seemed to be offered to him, she deserved this as much as he did too, he was completely aware of that.

* * *

He dropped his muddy boots by the door before he collapsed onto his bed, Wade looked up from his book before deciding there would be nothing to talk about today just as there hadn’t been in the week since the presentations fiasco. They were never really anything more than just roommates but before everything Stiles might have trusted him with a few tidbits, now the friendly boy stared at him the same way everyone else did. With a hint of apprehension, they had confirmation that he was dangerous now, and he would never get away from that categorisation.

He more and more felt like he didn’t belong, like his dad taking him back to Beacon Hills at the end of this year would have happened even if he could have stayed another year. He felt like a guest in the only place that had ever felt like home like he was intruding on other people’s lives, 99% of people didn’t want him here, that much was fact.

And the 1% that did were Hope, Josie, Penelope, Dr Saltzman and MG. MG had come over to commiserate what he had heard from the rumour mill perpetuated by Lizzie Saltzman of course. He wasn’t hidden anymore, he was seen with open eyes and he hated the way it made people treat him.

A body barrelled through the door and landed on top of him, knocking all of the wind out of him at once. Wade groaned and buried his head deeper into his book, if he could get a room change he would but Stiles knew that would only draw more attention onto him, which was the last thing he wanted.

He tried to lift his head up where his chest was pinned to the bed by a familiar person. Penelope. She was giggling as she spoke and it made little to no sense whatsoever.

“P, calm down, I don’t understand what you’re saying?”

“Me and Jo are going out, come with us?”

“Third wheel? What an extraordinary task?” He feigned excitement, but at this point that’s what he felt was the entire reason they still hung out with him, to pretend that they weren’t more than just friends, and that stung.

“We’re going to a party in town, cute boys, boys who don’t know what we are. No strings and I’m willing to bet you won’t be the only third wheel.”

Stiles was actually intrigued, and it wasn’t as if they were inviting him out to a romantic meal for two just to hide their relationship.

“You know what, yeah I’ll come. But I get to invite Hope.”

Wade snorted in the corner but Stiles chose to ignore him, he was more than happy for the two pariahs to be friends even if the entire school saw it as forced social isolation.

“Real tough choice, no Stiles or both Stiles and Hope. You know what I think I’m gonna have to let you go. No silly! The more the merrier, I might have had an objection if you wanted Lizzie though.”

Stiles pulled a face, “why on earth would I suggest bringing Lizzie I’m not stupid.”

Penelope laughed and peeled herself off of him, this was their friendship, something he had missed in their classes, he wasn’t replacing her with Hope even if it might think so, they were just growing up. Penelope had Josie and Stiles had Hope, more friendships and relationships were exactly what the old friends needed, a bigger circle or they might have lost that spark they so loved.

She helped him up off of the bed eyed his muddy boots that were by the door before she clawed another pair out from under his bed and began to look through the clothes in his closet.

He rolled his eyes at her until she dropped a pair of jeans that he knew for certain were increasingly tight and one of his fancier shirts that he usually reserved for formal parties at the boarding school.

“Put this on, we’re expecting cute boys and they have to know that you’re interesting and you do that with clothes 85% of the time which means that 85% of the time you look like a lumberjack no offence Stiles but I’m wing-womaning you tonight, no way you’re getting out of it. We sneak out at 9 be ready, and get Hope if you’re going to.”

She turned to Wade, her finger wagging his way, “and don’t you dare tell on us, it is a Friday night no one needs to know.”

He shook his head at her and turned back to his book. Stiles grinned at her and shooed her out of the room, he was ready to let some energy out dancing, and if he could get Hope to let her hair down with him then he was killing two birds with one stone.

* * *

Stiles knocked on Hope’s door but without waiting for an answer he entered anyway. He grinned at her sat on the floor going through photographs in her pyjamas. She eyed his attire and then the cheeky grin on his face.

“Oh no.”

“Oh yes, now come on, get your party clothes on we’re going out.”

“But Stiles-“

“Oh quit it Mikaelson, this is our year to have fun didn’t you say that? We’re going to a Mystic Falls party we’re gonna meet some cute boys and we’re going to dance until our feet hurt.”

Hope smiled at that and Stiles knew that he was turning a corner.

He left the door ajar as he helped her up from the floor and turned her towards her closet, he rifled through the items pulling things out for her to hum her agreement or disapproval of until they had a full outfit that she was willing to wear.

“Come by, Penelope’s when you’re dressed. And before 9 that’s when we’re going, it’s going to be fun.”

She laughed as she shut the door on him so she could at least have some privacy in all this. If he was going to persuade her to come to a party with them then she could at least get dressed without him in the room, even if he didn’t like girls. They’d had this jokey conversation even though she knew he would leave if asked, and that’s what he did. He was a decent guy and she was so glad they had always been friends even if it was rocky at the start and in the middle.

* * *

Hope knocked on Penelope’s door just as Stiles was finishing up the second braid in Josie’s hair. Penelope let her in as she returned to painting her nails, Hope felt awkward for a minute before Josie motioned to the chair across from her that Stiles had occupied ages ago.

Stiles grinned at her as he began to pin up Josie’s hair, this wasn’t the first time he’d played hairdresser but it had usually been for Penelope, and the occasional little kid who looked like they needed a pick-me-up. Of course, he assumed they wouldn’t even come within five feet of him now that certain things had come out. It saddened him but he didn’t have to deal with this for three more years at the least.

“Need me to do your hair too Hope?”

She shook her head, “I think I’m good thanks, but next time I need an elaborate hairstyle I’ll know who to come to.”

He shrugged, “my ADHD sort of stills when I’m using my hands or using my magic, like the only reason I have the disorder is that I’m constantly needing to let out dome energy some way or another.”

Hope smiled at his explanation, Penelope was bobbing her head to the music that was playing out of Josie’s phone but she too was smiling at his openness to speak. It was like a therapy of sorts, grouping all the people in his life that he cared about in one room and showing that he was willing to discuss his differences with them so openly. It was cathartic, he felt lighter knowing that none of these people would judge him for any of what he was telling them.

He finished Josie’s hair with an awkward pat on her head that had the four of them giggling with laughter because knowing everything different about him didn’t change the fact that inside he was still the lanky awkward teenage boy they had all grown up with.

* * *

Sneaking out was easier than they had pegged it to be earlier on and after half an hour of walking through the woods away from the school, they hit the road and internet service. From there the directions would take them twenty minutes to the house which brought them to now with Penelope on Stiles’ back and her girlfriend carrying her shoes because the rest had been sensible enough to wear shoes that wouldn’t hurt when walking the distance they all knew they would have to cross to get out of the school.

It was lucky Penelope was light and that Stiles was deceptively strong, it didn’t mean he enjoyed being choked out by his friend, he had hoped the only choking he would ever experience would be through sexual experimentation but the way this was going it looked to be heading towards a hard pass from him.

He hoisted her up on his back and nearly swore in relief when they could finally hear the music that signalled a high school party. The estate was fancy and Stiles knew the girls had heard a good rumour about a party, chances were they didn’t know everyone in the school and they could just pass on in without a clue that they didn’t attend their school.

He set her down on the ground as they reached the drive of the party. Red cups littered the grass and people had spilled out of the house onto the lawn, drinking and smoking. They paid them little to no attention as they headed into the house. Penelope kissed him on the cheek before she dragged Josie off into the crowds leaving Hope and Stiles by themselves.

Hope raised her eyebrows at him and he laughed, he took her hand in his and dragged her towards where he assumed the kitchen and the alcohol might be.

She didn’t resist and took the cup he offered her gingerly even as he didn’t take one for himself.

“Are you not drinking?”

He shook his head, “I have a feeling Penelope and Josie might drink enough for me too and I know I’m going to have to get them back safe.”

She nodded and set the cup down on the side, “I could do with keeping my wits about me too, don’t wanna magically turn into a wolf while my inhibitions are down.”

She grimaced at the thought of and turned to him square on even if she was a foot shorter than him.

“So we’re going to be boring tonight. What else did you have planned during our escape tonight.”

Stiles took her hands again and began walking her out of the kitchen, “dancing Hope Mikaelson, we’re going to dance until we’re giddy and too tired to do any more.”

She nodded and laughed, that sure sounded like a plan and a half.

* * *

It was maybe nearing half one and Hope and Stiles had been dancing like there was no tomorrow, neither had made any contact with any cute boys as they had been lead to believe but neither one was too bothered to care. They had also yet to see Josie and Penelope resurface but if worst came to worst they could perform a quick locater spell, it didn’t mean they were lost forever and that helped a great deal in alleviating some of the worries.

It was at this time that someone finally cut in between them, hands on Hope’s waist that had her tensing up but one glance to Stiles told her she had nothing to worry about unless her friend did really want her to meet a boy that bad in which she needed to talk to him about clear boundaries a lot later.

She spun around in the hands and found herself face to chest with her old boyfriend Roman Sienna, their relationship had pretty steadily been off and on again depending on when he came back to the school, apparently, this was one of those times.

She shot Stiles an apologetic smile as she let Roman lead her out of the room, she did want to speak with him so desperately. Stiles waved her away with little fanfare. He could do time without anyone near, he’d have to get used to all that anyway.

He spun around to get back into the groove of things but found little was as fun as dancing so spectacularly stupid with a friend that he was drawn to the ledge of an open window, his phone out on his lap.

His fingers danced over the contacts before he even had control of himself and a name danced across the screen that he hadn’t been in contact with since before the presentations fiasco, he just hadn’t wanted any sympathy and really he wouldn’t understand why he was being ostracised by his classmates so it didn’t even bare discussing at this point. But now sat at a party that wasn’t even his own schools with all of his friends distracted by their own significant others he felt measurably taken away from it all but he was happy. That’s what was different than any other time that he had found himself thinking of the future, he knew that these people would always be his family even if they were distracted by other things to tend to his fragile soul, but right now he was happy.

Being lame he figured the best way to start a conversation with Scott after so long really was only a ‘hi’ and then to wait.

‘Hey, how u been?’

‘Not great but don’t need to talk about it. U?’

‘Same, y does life get troubled in sophomore year?’

‘No clue. What u doing tonight?’

‘Video games.’

‘That sounds so much more interesting than my night. Am at a party. All my friends are with their partners so I’m just hanging.’

‘No girls you want to speak to?’

‘Boys. But no, we’re at a different schools party, we snuck out.’  
‘You like boys, cool. And sneaky.’

Stiles laughed he was glad that at least his friend from home wasn’t homophobic. That was something at the very least, especially if it ever got out he was some warlock thing, at least he knew that he didn’t care that he liked boys.

He swiped at the traitorous tear in his eye, everything was just so difficult, he was gay something he didn’t care one bit about he was completely accepting of it but people could be difficult about it of course. Then he was magic but he wasn’t magic like his friends were, he was something else because that made everything else all the more complicated. Nothing could just be simple for him could it. Of course not.

Stiles looked up from his phone in time to see Josie puke in a plant pot Penelope nowhere to be seen. He swore and quickly typed out his next response so he could go rescue his friend.

‘Puke duty. Talk soon.’


	7. Chapter 7

He wrestled Josie to the door, leaving her on the doorstep with a plastic bag and strict instructions to remain there. He now had the very special job of trying to find Penelope somewhere in this cesspool of a party.

Josie was pretty much completely hard to understand at this point so she was no help in giving any idea of where to find her. He found an empty room and focused on his energy, focusing on his friend and hoping to all god this was something he could do without spell work. He got a few flashes and then he felt winded, he was entirely too focused on the fact that he was different from his classmates now, he’d spent too much time trying to pretend he wasn’t and now every time he tried to use his abilities he didn’t have the stamina for it. His own fault really.

He hated that this was going to be his last year to focus on his magic, he had one year to find out what he truly could do before he was forced to suffer through trying to hide it every second of every day in Beacon Hills.

Right now though he thinks Penelope is in the garden, he didn’t think anywhere else would have that much shrubbery.

He elbowed his way through the inebriated groups until he made it to the back door. He shook his head at the many teens swapping spit in the grass and shade of the wall. If this wasn’t the cesspit of teenage pregnancy he didn’t know what was. He scanned the faces among the grass and chuckled to himself as he noticed that familiar shoe.

He pounced on her ankle and delighted in her shriek, she giggled when she noticed it was him. Her eyes were glassy, he figured she’d had as much to drink as pukey Josie so this wasn’t too much of a surprise.

“Come on, home time!”

He pulled at her ankle until she toppled into his arms. Hers looped around his neck and he could practically taste the alcohol on her breath, he grimaced.

He hooked his arm around her waist and helped her to unsteady feet.

“We’ve got to find Hope.”

“And Jo!” She giggled swaying into him.

“Josie is out front being sick into a bag. Just look for Hope.”

“I’m drunk.”

He chuckled and shook his head, “yes you are.”

He scanned the heads of the crowd, trying to find sight of Roman or Hope and suddenly he immensely regretted telling her to go speak to him. He needed the extra hands to get drunk and drunker back to the school without Josie’s dad finding out what his sweet little girl got up to when friends with the two troublemakers in his school.

He felt his phone buzz in his pocket as he lowered Penelope to the step next to Josie. He fished it out of his pocket and rolled his eyes.

**(Unknown)**

_Stiles, went back to SS with Ro, thanks for the good night x - H._

Of course, he should have known that’s where the two of them would go and now he had the job of getting these two inebriated fools back safely and make sure they weren’t found by the Sheriff. That would be an awful way to end the night.

“Hope’s gone back to the school. So should we.”

He hoisted Penelope to her feet, watched as she wobbled in her heels and lowered her back down to the steps.

He looked at Josie’s sensible shoes, the high heels Penelope was wearing and his own sneakers. This was already the beginning of a bad night.

“You are a fool, P, remind me never to let you out in heels if you’re going to get this pissed.”

She shook her head at him, trying to crane her head to look at her feet, Jo’s and his. But he didn’t think she really understood what he said nor would she remember it in the morning.

Josie was still puking when he began to untie her laces, she looked up, a bit soberer without some of the alcohol in her stomach content any longer.

“What?”

“I need your socks.”

She didn’t question that any further as she vomited again and Stiles looked away from the swishing bag.

He pulled her socks off of her feet and set them on Penelope’s still leg. He slid her shoes back on and turned to take Penelope’s heels off of her feet.

He slipped his own flat shoes onto her’s even as they were too big he shoved Jo’s socks in the back to fill them out a bit more. He could feel the dew of the grass soaking into his thin socks.

He could deal with sore feet for a night, she wouldn’t do too well if she broke her ankle tripping back in those heels.

“All sorted, come on you pain. We’re in so much trouble.”

* * *

Josie stopped puking a little bit into their walk back to the school, she looked lost as she held the bag between her hands. He sighed, shifted Penelope in his arms and tied the bag shut, he hooked the loops of the handles around his free fingers and they continued to walk again. They owed him indefinitely for the rest of time after this.

He dropped the bag in the first general waste bin he could find and wrapped his other free hand around Josie, the three of them needed as much heat as they could manage in the cool of the night.

They snuck back in through the forest the same way they had left, Stiles tried not to think of his sore soggy and cold feet even as they continued to trek back. He wouldn’t be taking up their idea for partying outside the Salvatore School again any time soon.

He was tired, cold, exhausted and too sober to still be stood on two feet. Is this what it felt to be a normal teenager at high school? Attend a party where you know no one but your friends that are in a relationship ditch you to have fun on your own, yeah if this was what Beacon Hills was going to be like he could do that.

No bitchy witches sounded like a bonus too.

He struggled to open the door with two sleepy witches under his arms until he gave up and motioned with his hands, it opened silently and closed behind them. So he could still be magical wordless and too tired to speak or really question it.

He dropped them on Penelope’s bed and flopped to the floor with his head resting on the mattress if anyone woke him up for anything in the morning they were going to wish the floor would swallow them up.

He was too tired and felt a little bit lost having only had fun with Hope until she’d gone, it was almost as if Penelope and Josie had invited him to get them safely home. He knew that wasn’t the case they were as much his family as Lizzie was Josie’s sister, and he loved that they had finally gotten their acts together and accepted the relationship, but he could do with them still being friends with all this going on. He would like it if they did some things the way they used to when Stiles was equally friends with both of them and they were both busy suppressing their feelings for the other.

He got the friendship he wanted from Hope most of the time, Hope and Alaric but he couldn’t expect that from both of them, both of them had families and other relationships.

Stiles wished he could sleep, everything felt groggy and slow but as he sat there listening to their light snores he realised he couldn’t. He was tired but there was something inside of him humming.

A prickle in the back of his head. A pain in the back of his mind.

Something out there was happening, a reminder that he wasn’t supposed to be here. That if his mother had still been alive he never would have been enrolled in this school. This wasn’t what his life was meant to be, but no one had those answers for him if he could speak to his mother maybe something would be cleared up but necromancy was dangerous. It was dark, and that could swallow you up.

Well, it could swallow these witches up, he didn’t know about his magic. He didn’t know enough about what he could be, he felt connections to Celtic lore and that meant druids, but he’d read the history books, the way the Romans had tried to completely eradicate that race, the race that wouldn’t swear down to them. There was no evidence that they could have survived that violence nevermind surviving long enough for the exploration of the Americas.

His mother was of Polish descent, but did that mean his magic came from Poland or some other variant in his bloodline. His eyes shone as he thought about it if he could figure out his family tree maybe something would point out what he was. Yeah, he could do that and he was sure Alaric and Dorian would help him, they knew their history.

He nodded as he felt his eyes finally begin to get heavy, yeah, he would look up his lineage. That was a goal.


	8. Chapter 8

He awoke to someone kicking his foot, he looked up blearily to find Penelope’s roommate Anna booting him with her foot. She was wrapped in a towel robe and her hair was wet on top of her head. Yeah she’d been in the shower, he wouldn’t want him here if that was the case.

He apologised non-verbally and heaved himself up off of the floor, casting a look back at the bed he found Penelope sprawled out alone, his sneakers still hanging off of her feet. He wondered when Josie had taken the time to get back to her own room if she ever did.

He slipped out of the room and held his head down to evade anyone that might have noticed him leaving at 9 am, boys weren’t supposed to stay in girls’ dorm rooms but if anyone really knew him they would know he wasn’t the issue and that they should probably be more concerned with him staying in another boys room.

He got back to his room to find Wade listening to classical music and reading on his bed. It wasn’t anything new but he had considered going back to sleep, he was awake now though, probably better to just walk off the exhaustion.

Wrestling his jacket off followed by his shirt he ignored the comments of a distraught Wade. He wasn’t coming on to him, he was just trying to get out of puke smelling clothes. He threw both articles in the washing basket by the door, choosing to put a shirt on before he chose to take off his pants. He eyed his soiled socks and threw them in the basket too.

Flexing his toes he knew he’d damaged them, slippers were the best option. He didn’t intend to do anything more than look up his family lineage.

Saturdays were Dorian’s day off but he didn’t mind having the first look to see where he could get. He browsed the shelves trying to shake off the exhaustion that was clouding up his mind.

“What are you looking for?”

He half jumped out of his skin at the voice, but it cleared his mind considerably, who’d have thought.

Turning he had his hand placed against his chest - MG - he smiled politely at his sort of friend and let himself calm down before he chose to answer.

“Lineage books, who I’m related to, where my magic comes from?”

MG frowned, “I thought everyone was trying to figure that out for like ten years now? Don’t you think they would have already tried that?”

Stiles shrugged, “maybe but they never shared any of that information with me, I’d like to know regardless.”

“Can I help?”

“Don’t you have anything better to do?”

MG shook his head, he smiled awkwardly, “I’d like the distraction.”

Stiles nodded, he knew who he wanted a distraction from, it was super obvious that the boy had a failing crush on the queen of mean.

“Well, then I wouldn’t mind the help.”

Stiles barked out a laugh as MG sped past him piling up books on ancestral lines on one of the tables in the library, that would surely save him half of his afternoon trying to find those books.

MG beamed back at him, glad to be of some use.

A witch and a vampire good friends, it wasn’t the sort of thing you read in storybooks, but this wasn’t a storybook considering he didn’t see his happy ending on the cards any time soon.

* * *

Stiles set his head down on the table, his head hurt and he was tired. It was almost as if he had a hangover and he knew for a definite fact he hadn’t drunk the previous night. He had a feeling it was all the words swirling inside of his mind. Words that didn’t amount to anything, he’d found no listings of any notable magical lines out of Poland.

MG had collected them lunch which sat untouched at the end of the bench, this all sucked but he didn’t think he was going to find anything in a library that was dedicated to the line of witches that included the Bennett clan, he wasn’t one of them. Not in the slightest, an anomaly whose only link to his past died when he was seven.

“This is futile. Sorry, you had to give up your day for this.”

MG shook his head, he was still speed reading through the thickest of the volumes, they’d been only at this for the past three hours finding nothing.

MG set the book down on the increasing pile of useless books. He leaned back in his chair and watched Stiles, “do you think maybe you should speak to Dr Saltzman?”

Stiles shrugged, clawing his hands through his hair. “I’d really like to exhaust all my options before he brings me in here and points at one of these books as the answer. I have a feeling all the magic these people wrote about are the curriculum that is taught here. If there was anything else surely they would have told me about it.”

“I wonder if your dad has any records of your family, or if the place your from has any lineage records.”

Stiles looked at MG with acknowledgement, that made so much more sense than having something in here mention what he was. But that meant going back home and he wasn’t certain if his dad would let him go home to see it.

“You might be right, I don’t know if I want to go back before the end of this year is up though.”

“You have a friend there though right, ask him.”

“How would I explain wanting to know about magic?” He wasn’t opposed to the idea he just didn’t want to scare Scott off before he got back there for summer.

“You wouldn’t have to. Just see if there are any family tree records, say its a project. It would be a start at the very least.”

“You’re a genius MG!”

MG pretended to tighten an imaginary tie a smug look on his face, “if you say so Stilinski.”

Stiles threw a pen at him but both of them were laughing nonetheless.

When they had calmed down MG fixed him with a pointed glare, “so are you going to text him or not?”

Stiles snapped back into it scrambling for his phone. Scott was the only number other than Penelope’s that had records of long conversations, his dad rarely had texted him at all when he was at home. Just snippets of things, like whether he was going to be home late at all. It wasn’t really something he looked forward to continuing when he returned to Beacon Hills, he wasn’t under the illusion that his father did care.

‘Can I ask a favour?’

_‘Shoot.’_

‘School project, family trees, dads too busy. Could you see if the town has any record of me?’

_‘Couldn’t today but sounds interesting. Try my best?’_

‘Thank you’

_‘When do u need it by?’_

‘Not immediately.’

_‘Cool. How was puke duty?’_

‘Painful. Your night?’

'_Mom got in late. Got worried.'_

‘Wanna talk?’

_‘Can’t at min. Talk soon bud.’_

He looked up from his phone to find MG gone, a new book set in front of him and the others whisked away likely back to where they belonged.

He traced his fingers over the title, the Latin reading English in his mind with no trouble, ‘Magic and Myth’, Stiles snorted, figuring this was as good as anything he could do while Scott looked up his family tree in Beacon Hills.

* * *

‘Magic and Myth’ remained unopened on his bedside table for days, something in him told him that now wasn’t the time to open it. He didn’t share these thoughts with anyone, figuring that telling them the book was almost speaking to him would only get him put away in the nuthouse.

He trained with Hope, channelled his magic and watched from a distance as Josie and Penelope pretended that they weren’t madly in love with one another. To some degree he felt like an outsider looking in, he could insert himself into all of this but he felt another purpose at present, he felt the sand in the hourglass decreasing as every day brought him closer to his father and further from who he felt he was.

He wanted to know who he was before he was dragged from it all unknowing.

Sitting next to Hope, the both of them revelled in the silence that allowed them to clear their minds and recover from the harsh training session they had just put one another through. Hope looked out of breath and sweaty but that was just because she healed quickly, he had a gash down the side of his forehead, and his ribs felt bruised and sore. She’d apologised heavily but truthfully he could barely feel it, his head pounding with a completely different pain.

“You seem sadder since we went out.”

She nudged him softly, he blew out and his fringe shifted, he smiled at her. “I’m okay, sometimes I forget that this is my last year, and everything has already changed. I spend so much of my time training myself that it’s almost as if I’m already back in Beacon Hills. I’m just being broody, I’m okay.”

“I’m always here if you want to train. We might have to wait until that head is healed up though.”

He grinned at her and bumped his fist against hers when she held it out to him.

His phone buzzed on the log next to him and he looked down at it, hopeful.

Picking it up he grinned to see Scott’s name, it had been a week since he said he would try to look into Stiles’ family tree in Beacon Hills for him. He wouldn’t even mind if this wasn’t that, he was just glad to have a friend.

He opened the text to find hundreds of picture images all downloading at once.

Hope frowned at the constant vibrations, “what is all of that?”

“I asked a friend if he could find my family tree in the Beacon Hills records, wanted some clue as to what my magic really is.”

“Did he find them?”

“Seems so. Looks like it goes back generations unless he got confused between me and another Stilinski in town.”

Hope snorted but leaned her chin on his shoulder as he scrolled down the many pictures, they ended with a text at the bottom.

‘Barely anything on your mom but your dad goes back to like the 1700s. Hope it helps.’

‘Thanks, buddy.’

“Well, looks like I found what I’ll be doing tomorrow in lieu of class.”

“I can help if you’d like?”

Stiles shrugged, “always appreciate the help, but you do have class.”

“I’ll just ask my Aunt Freya to teach me.”

Stiles’ eyes lit up, “if we find anything out about my magic or my lineage, do you think you could ask your family?”

Hope shrugged, “I can ask, dunno if they would know anything.”

Stiles didn’t care, he lunged forwards and wrapped her up into a hug, delighted when she responded in kind, the two lost kids taking refuge in one another as they often did. Saved by one another, always.


	9. Chapter 9

Stiles was attempting to piece his family tree together piece by piece on the floor of his dorm with sheets of paper taped together referencing only the order Scott had texted it across to him. It had more detail on his fathers' side but only as they reached California, it seemed that both sides weren’t natives, but he couldn’t imagine that they would be coming through the exploration of America in the 17th century.

Wade wasn’t too pleased that this was where he had chosen to set up base but he was out at classes for most of the day so really Stiles didn’t care.

Sitting with the complete version lay out in front of him he realised it gave no indication of anything to him. There was no highlighted name suggesting sorcerer the great, it was just one step in a long line of steps that might get him there in the end.

He folded it up as best he could without ripping the tape and decided his best bet was beginning from what was closest to him. His parents and his grandparents.

He knew that his mother was magic, that wasn’t a secret from him but the fact that he was the last in her line didn’t clear anything up for him. He shared the same convoluted name as his maternal grandfather who had Polish blood just like his paternal grandfather, maybe there was something in that?

Words swam around in his brain, nothing made sense. He annotated that both were Polish before turning to the grandmothers. Both seemed to be Californian natives with no outright links to outside cultures, another huge question mark he hoped to solve by looking back at their pasts.

He frowned at his phone, knowing it would be easy to do research on there but he really needed a computer and they only had those in the library. He’d only done three hours, that wasn’t enough to go retreating into himself deeming that he didn’t want other people to know he was unable to look up his own family history without help.

He stuffed his pens and highlighters into his pencil case and pushed it into the push pocket of his hoodie, he bundled the thick pile of papers into his arms and set off out of Wade’s way. He kept his head down and took the turns quickly, he just wanted to reach the library without any stops. This was his work - sure Hope had offered to help but he wasn’t at that point yet, he wanted answers later at the minute he’d barely begun.

What he hadn’t wanted to find hovering over him four hours later after he’d commandeered an entire table and one of the computers, was Dr Saltzman holding a plate of food and watching him carefully.

“Hope told me you’ve been in here all day.”

Stiles shrugged, he had never noticed that she’d found him. Too taken by the many names he didn’t recognise followed by mundane histories he cared nothing for.

Alaric set the plate in front of him taking the growl of his stomach as an invitation he began to look over his work.

“You’re looking up your family tree?”

Stiles nodded around a bite of the chicken burger that had been placed in front of him. He swallowed and began to explain.

“I’m something. I relate to some things and I relate to other things, it doesn’t make any sense, I just want it to make sense.”

“Is this a new endeavour? You never mentioned anything?”

Stiles shrugged again, “I just don’t want to go back to Beacon Hills not knowing what I am. I thought my family tree might help.”

Alaric nodded, “have you found anything?”

Stiles set the burger down and stood up, he folded out more of the tree so it hung off of the table.

“These are mostly records of my fathers' line but it ends before it shows where they care from before California, my mothers' line has a few in California but nothing from where they were before. Both my grandfathers were of Polish descent so there will be records of that somewhere. I’ve just started with what’s closest to me and anything interesting in their histories before I move back further. Dad’s grandfather was a Polish immigrant to America in 1911 before WW1 broke out, so I might have to get in touch with Polish registers to find out more about him. That’s about as far as I’ve reached.”

Alaric nodded, tracing the lines of the tree, “If you want help?”

Stiles shrugged, “might be quicker.”

“I wouldn’t want to take over.”

Stiles shook his head, “one takes my mothers' side one takes my fathers' side. Not taking over, just quicker.”

“Deal.”

* * *

Stiles spent weeks cooped up in Alaric’s office sometimes with Dorian and Emma as each person was suddenly remarkably invested in finding out what kind of magic Stiles had coursing through his veins.

Hope kept her family in the loop but they’d heard nothing about a Gajos or Stilinski line being even vaguely important or magical so nothing yet.

They were awaiting the arrival of Polish records that would tell them about the Stilinski line in Poland, the Gajos line was harder to track but they were getting there.

His fathers' grandmother’s line seemed to fluctuate between Arizona and California but they couldn’t sustain a pattern nor find any reasoning behind it.

They were yet to find anything notable to suggest where his magic came from.

His mothers' grandmother had also fled for America during WWII fleeing out of Israel where she was Jewish with his own grandmother as a small child. Finding Israeli records of Jews that had fled for America was tough going but Dorian had promised he was on that one.

It almost seemed like a lost cause but he knew that despite how convoluted and tricky it was to trace his lineage back there was something there, something that caused his magic to behave the way it did.

Alaric nudged at his side with his foot, bringing Stiles back to the present where he had dozed off on top of reference books on his headmasters' floor.

“What?”

“Go to bed, we’ll see you in the morning.”

“M’kay.” He moved sluggishly until he was padding down the corridor past excited classmates until he could just pass out in his own bed.

* * *

“I found something!”

Stiles jumped at Dorian’s excited tone, his highlighted slipping out of his mouth and onto the carpet, he winced.

“What?”

He watched as the older man sat a notebook down on Alaric’s desk and the three of them curled around it like it had the secrets to the holy grail.

“I’ve been talking with the Polish records and lineage people trying to track down the Stilinski line, and we found them really easy. The immigration was legal, they had recorded papers for it a set up in America and enough money to bring them where they are now. That wasn’t what I found though, you see we know that Stilinski was your great grandfathers' name, but the reason we can’t link any others to your line is that your great-great-grandmother never married, it was her maiden name. Her partner, his last name was Tvardovsky a Russian but it has the polish equivalent of Twardowski which was where the Russian’s line came from maybe two hundred years before. Records back then were spotty at best, we kind of just tried to follow it as best we could, leading to this man. Pan Twardowski.”

Dorian flourished his hands excitably like the other two were supposed to know why this bloke was so important in order to be this excited.

“Dorian what?”

Alaric was just as mind boggled as he was sure the blank look on Stiles’ face equated to.

“Neither of you have heard of Pan Twardowski? The sorcerer from Polish folklore?”

Stiles rubbed at his eyes, “I have Polish heritage, I haven’t read everything magical considering I can’t speak it.”

Dorian rolled his eyes and turned to Alaric who was already shaking his head, he liked European folklore but he wasn’t too concerned over the niche points of it. Mostly just what he had come into contact with.

“Okay, according to legend he was a nobleman that lived in Krakow in the 16th century, there are a few different versions of his story. One was that he sold his soul to the devil for magical powers and knowledge, another was that he was sold to the devil by his father when he was a child. Not sure which one is true, but if you have relation in some diluted way to a sorcerer on your fathers' side maybe that explains some of it?”

Stiles nodded, still not completely following it all but at least one of four strings finally led somewhere.

“Thanks, Dorian.”

“Kid it was my pleasure, research is the best.”

Stiles chuckled, all three of them agreed wholeheartedly when something came of it.

“It’s nice to know at least this is all going somewhere.”

Alaric nodded, “I’m on it with the Israeli records, my Hebrew isn’t 100% but I’m getting somewhere with them.”

Stiles traced his finger along his fathers' mother’s line and nodded, “I think she might have been part of a nomadic group which is why it keeps skipping through Arizona and California. The only native tribes I’ve found in both California and Arizona are the Quechan, Chemehuevi and Halchidhomoma. I’ve been emailing with some of the reservations who have agreed to help me.”

Alaric nodded, all three of them were broken down by long days of lots of research that was getting absolutely nowhere. They’d disappeared into the depths of his office with no reprieve. It was at least time to get back involved with the school.

“We’re a quarter of the way through this now. We reconvene in a week, Stiles you should attend the winter ball with your friends and then we’ll prepare for winter break. We still have a lot of time, we can get through this.”

Stiles didn’t even have the energy to disagree, this was taking up too much of his time, it was well worth it but his last year at the Salvatore School might be the year of the most research ever at this point.

* * *

Stiles groaned as he rolled over on his bed, the corner of a book stabbing him in the ribs.

As much as he had agreed to get back into the school life he still wanted to find out more about the Gajos line, the only one they didn’t have any link to.

The ‘Magic and Myth’ book still lay closed and unopened on his bedside table, it wasn’t time yet. He couldn’t explain when the time would come but he knew with utter certainty that this was not the time.

It was the day of the Winter ball December 3rd, his dad was picking him up on the 5th, he had two days to sort himself out. He was surprised his dad still wanted him home for Christmas but he knew he had little choice in the matter, plus he would get to see Scott.

He didn’t know the exact times that Beacon Hills High School was in and out for winter break but he was sure his month off would mean he would at least get to see him for a little while, even as he tried to convince his dad it would be okay for him to finish up the rest of his year in Virginia. He’d pretty much come to terms with being sentenced to Beacon Hills for the rest of eternity now, his dad could at least give him the end of the year to get used to never going back.

He shoved the book off of his bed and tried to curl back under the cushions when he was suddenly on the floor with a thud.

His ears rang and he wasn’t completely sure what had happened except for the many apologies and the argument that followed.

“-I just meant for you to shake him awake or something, pour some water over him. You didn’t need to yank him off of the bed!”

That was one voice he didn’t expect to find in his room in the morning, not that he wasn’t happy to get up but he really didn’t need Lizzie Saltzman ordering him out of bed.

Someone grabbed at his arm and tugged him to his feet, he rubbed at his eyes until he was confident he wasn’t about to doze off again.

MG and Lizzie were stood in front of him, sunlight was streaming in through the open curtains and they were dressed like they expected the queen to rock up at any moment.

“What do you two need?”

“Party committee, every being has to be represented, Penelope and Josie argued that because you aren’t a witch you get to represent yourself.”

Stiles nodded though not quite sure why he would help any with the party committee but if this would get them away from him he would be down to try.

“When is it?”

“Now!” Stiles flinched at her screech, turning to MG for help but he was useless against her, “are you coming or not?”

Stiles held up his hands as he shrugged his hoodie on over his rumpled clothes and slipped his slippers on, he waved for them to lead the way.

His head bounced as he walked, every bit of knowledge seeping through his very core, he was still trying to figure out the puzzle that was his family tree even in sleep, even without all of the information that was likely still spread out over Alaric’s floor.

He found that they led him to a room with Hope, Kaleb, Josie, Jed, MG and Lizzie in it. There probably should have been fewer people in there considering representatives but he wasn’t in the correct mental state to even begin to contest that. He probably could have done with a few more hours sleep but that wasn’t Lizzie’s idea especially if she wanted to seem fair to everyone.

He slumped into the seat next to Hope and she grinned at his attire. He could see from her eyes that she didn’t really care that much for any of this nonsense either, but no one wanted a Lizzie explosion if they could help it.

She began to talk and he could barely be assed to listen, everything was going past him like clouds overhead.

He awoke to someone clicking in front of his face. He blinked awake to find Lizzie staring angrily at him, her face red and Josie trying to calm her down.

“You woke me up, what did you expect from me?”

“I didn’t know working with our dad was so exhausting.”

“You try reading Israeli and Polish texts every day for the last four weeks and you tell me you aren’t exhausted. What did you want my attention for?”

“We were all deciding on roles for the party, MG and Kaleb are decorating, Hope and Jed are providing refreshments, Josie and I are in charge of the music. What would you like to help out with?”

Stiles shrugged, “I can decorate, sure.”

She crossed her arms as he yawned again but he paid no mind to her.

“Well let’s get going then.”

Stiles heaved himself out of his chair and joined MG and Rafael discussing what they were going to do at the other side of the table.

“What are you thinking?”

Kaleb eyed him warily but the two of them had never had any interaction so Stiles didn’t really care what he thought about him. He just wanted to get out of the way of Lizzie’s wrath.

“As quick as possible but fancy enough that Lizzie won’t complain.”

Stiles yawned into his hand as he nodded, he could get on board with that. He focused on where the decorations for last years ball might have been stored, he closed his eyes and breathed out, hoping to all that was holy that this would work.

“Holy shit, Stilinski you’ve been holding out on us!”

Stiles opened his eyes to find the two vampires swamped in Christmas decorations.

MG’s mouth was slightly open, “where did you learn to do this?”

Stiles shook his head and lowered himself down to sit on the ledge behind him.

“I finally accepted I’m not the same as everyone else. There’s a lot of things I can do that I don’t know that much about yet.”

He began to topple forwards out unconscious again before Kaleb reached and steadied him.

“I’m just exhausted.” He tried to wave them off but Kaleb resisted.

“Look I know its frowned upon but our blood might be able to help you enough that you won’t pass out every ten seconds. Your choice, Stilinski?”

Stiles grinned, “why not?”


	10. Chapter 10

Stiles straightened his bow tie in the mirror and clawed his hair out of his eyes, by any standards he looked pretty damn dapper. He could see life in his eyes where there had been none earlier, Kaleb’s blood had done a number for his energy levels and he surely appreciated it. He could only picture his fathers face if he ever told him he drank a vampire’s blood - his dad would be mortified.

He could hear the music pumping beneath his feet but he could feel himself less than excited about going down there and dancing with the rest of them. He’d never had any problem with it, him and Penelope tearing up the dance floor getting the stink-eye off Lizzie Saltzman. But somehow that didn’t feel like tonight, it felt like a strange place to pause a movie. Just when the most interesting bits get laced together, the night before he would be packing up to get on a bus back to California. Three days of bus journeys lay ahead of him, his dad couldn’t come to get him and he didn’t mind in the slightest.

A knock at his door brought his eyes away from his reflection in the mirror, Hope popped her head around the door and grinned at his suit.

“Fancy look there Stiles, you sure you’re not aiming to seduce anyone here tonight?”

“No one worth seducing, unfortunately.” He grinned back, grateful she’d stepped further into the room so he could see her beautiful black and white dress, “You looking to hook up with Roman again tonight?”

She shook her head a twinkle in her eye, “your my date for tonight, seen as I won’t be seeing you for the next month we need to get our fill of one another before the separation anxiety gets the better of us.”

“Oh, Hope Mikaelson you speak my language.” He looped his arm around hers, he could at least pretend he wanted to be at this ball, less so pretending when he had Hope on his arm.

He wanted to have fun tonight, he danced with Hope as he did at that party, he kept an eye on Josie and Penelope who looked like they were having a whale of a time and he caught MG moping after Lizzie like it was the most natural of his many facets of personality. This was one night where he didn’t have to worry about what would happen next.

He could just never escape that ever-looming thought that each thing was the last time he would get to do this. The last time he would watch MG strikeout in asking Lizzie to dance with him, the last time he would watch the werewolves sneak booze past Dorian. Each thing felt like although it was never something he would have paid any attention to before, it was all he could think about now. The sheer importance of him being there played more on his mind than he would have liked it too.

He had to keep forcing him to face the reality of the moment he was living in rather than considering what he would be doing at this time next year, life would be dull if he continued to consider the future without living in the present. He was eternally grateful he had the friends to pull him back to the present, to enjoy the moment and that’s why he stuck to Hope.

He danced his ass off, he got buzzed on the spiked punch, he dragged MG away from Lizzie to join their circle.

His friends, forever friends, a vampire, a hybrid, his witches. They were who he considered family, as much as that was what he was searching for with Dorian and Alaric behind closed doors, these people right here were his and he would never forget that.

He had this night, and all day tomorrow to enjoy being himself before he was pushed back into the human category, he would hide what he was and try not to let his father see him practising. At least he could remember these people, these people that accepted him for his complete self nothing more and nothing less, that meant more to him than anything his father could attempt to do.

* * *

Stiles had been messaging Scott as he waited for his father to pick him up, the boy was excited for his long-distance friend to return home for Christmas. He had a tonne of plans to get them both through the Christmas break while Stiles’ dad and Scott’s mom worked the holidays.

For the first time, he was excited to maybe go home, he would miss his friends, but he could do with creating a friendship with Scott now before he came back in Summer for the looming school year and tried to gel with him all over again after a full year apart. And at least this year wouldn’t be stewing against his father and scheming with Penelope. This year might be interesting.

Penelope had been picked up by her extended relatives, prepared for a boring Christmas break herself of cousins trying to one-up one another with magic all the while trying not to get caught by their parents.

Josie had expressed that the twins were going to spend their Christmas with their mom in Europe while Alaric stayed behind with the kids like MG who didn’t have the family that others had.

Alaric had promised to continue looking into his history for him just as Dorian had expressed his interest by booking his holiday break in Poland, he couldn’t think of better people to help him in his quest for answers, especially with the dedication they showed for this. And he would be telling his father of his interest purely on a human scale not to find out where his power came from because he wasn’t sure how well that would go down for him of course.

It was a goal at the least, to go through all the information that Beacon hills could provide on the subject, then at least he wouldn’t have free days to get in too much trouble with his dad. That would help. It was his paternal grandmother and his maternal grandfather that he really needed to look into, both seemingly living in America for a lot longer than those who had been immigrants to America to avoid wars or to seek better life opportunities.

History had always told him that his bloodline wouldn’t be strictly American because that just wasn’t how it went for them, at best his ancestors were likely from the explorations brought over from mainland Europe or England.

That was what made tracing back who he was related to so complicated. Following a thread backwards that could end in places, you would never expect or would never have any corresponding action to who he really was. And he wanted to let Hope help like she had offered, knowing that she could speak to a family of vampires that had been around since the beginning was super interesting but he had little to pass back to them for answers just yet. He couldn’t expect them to do all the work giving him context if he had nothing to offer them back in the work ethic. But it was interesting, to know somewhere out there was an explanation for the way his magic worked, and to know that despite his father's annoyances at who he was his father’s bloodline had something to do with it also.

Something along the line had sparked with what was in his mother's blood to create him, and as powerful as he was he just wished he had someone to guide him on his path.

He threw his bags in the back of his dad's car as he pulled up, he expressed to Scott that he would be on his way back shortly and switched off his phone, prepared for the endless journey of silence he was about to experience.

* * *

“How was your year?”

Stiles looked across at his dad, surely the man didn’t want to know the truth. How he’d been so worked up about not being there next year that he wasn’t enjoying the time he still had there.

“Just the same really. I’ve been looking into our family bloodlines though, do you happen to know anything about your family history?”

“Why are you looking into all of that now?”

Stiles shrugged keeping his eyes on his fingers as he tried to tamp down his ADHD soaked magic that made his fingers twitch uncontrollably in his lap.

“I guess it would just be interesting to know, I’m not like anyone else at the school and I wondered where that came from. Do you think Beacon Hills keeps records of people and where they came from?”

“I wouldn’t know.”

Stiles clamped his mouth shut, unsure to whether that was a dismissal towards the entire subject or that he just no longer wanted to hear anything that Stiles was saying, either way, he wasn’t surprised it hadn’t taken long for them to slump into silence. This was more familiar than easy conversation.

He stared out of the window of the car, both not being able to wait to come back and wishing he could be in Beacon Hills with Scott. In both situations, he wouldn’t have to be dealing with his dad. That spoke mountains.

* * *

The familiar landscape of Beacon County brought some of his senses back in on himself after a couple of days on the road. He didn’t want to be trapped in this car any longer and Christmas break was only four weeks, four weeks he should have stayed in the school but was instead dragged back to hell for no real reason.

He ran his finger over the glass of the window and stiffened as he felt his magic stirring, he had to get this under control. He clenched his hand into a fist and tucked it into the pouch pocket of his hoodie. As much as he didn’t want to think about his imminent transition from the Salvatore School to Beacon Hills High School, he could at least consider this period of time to be somewhat of a trial run for his life hereafter. He would maintain that he could control his magic, even without having a total grasp on what it really was.

The drive had been quiet since his dad's first words and he found himself dreading this time at home. He might have Scott, but he had to think about the boy having other friends. Stiles had managed to survive his time alone here before, he just had to believe in himself. Of course, he could do it.

The house looked the same as it always did and Stiles looked at his dad warily as he shouldered his bag and followed him in. As much as this was his home 1/3 of the year it never quite felt the same as it did when his mother had been alive. His dad was never home and he was only a half of himself here, Penelope was half busy out in the world not devoting all of her attention to her phone like Stiles.

But this time he had a mission, and he was more than happy to waste his time in the old records tracing his heritage and hiding from the present.

He set his bag down on his bed and stared around at the room. His chest felt constricted as if he had just stepped into prison, and he sort of had. From here on out he had to cage in his magic if any of that slipped through he would be in a world of trouble, he could already feel it itchy in his body, he was thankful he’d had one last energy release with his staff before returning. His father would be less than pleased if he had appeared at the pick up with that length of wood.

“Stiles! I’ve got to go into work! There’s food in the fridge or money on the side if you want to order in!”

There was little time for a response before Stiles heard the door slam behind him. He sunk onto his bed with a sigh, the start of Christmas break was proceeding as he expected the rest of Christmas break to continue.

He shot a quick text off to Scott and Penelope to let them know he’d got home safely and he considered what to do next.


	11. Chapter 11

Stiles breathed out as he pushed through different combinations of strength meditation exercises, he had tied a blindfold around his eyes to make him concentrate entirely on the energy he expelled breathing through his exercises.

Birds tweeted in the trees and their wings flapped in the breeze, he heard the wind through the trees and the quiet sounds of cars rumbling far away. His feet were bare against the forest floor connecting him to the earth and the power beating beneath the surface.

He felt his magic calming as he practised the visualisation of taming it and keeping it locked back so it wouldn’t react to any sudden emotions as he was quick to find out had a good deal in effecting the power at which it usually lashed out.

He was flexing his fingers and his wrists until they were a quivering mess when he heard it. His metaphorical hackles rose and he paused his movements, listening as the twigs that had cracked under pressure groaned when the pressure was removed. He pulled his blindfold down his face quickly and blinked at the woman standing in front of him. Her eyes were wide as if she hadn’t meant to startle him, but then again she was likely not expecting a half-naked teenager practising a bastardised version of Tai Chi in the middle of the Beacon Hills Preserve.

He left his blindfold dangling strangely around his neck as he reached down for his shirt. He was a skinny teenager but he had some muscle definition after all those years of fighting Hope, it didn’t mean he particularly wanted to continue exposing himself to this random woman.

“Am I disturbing you?”

She seemed spooked again that he had spoken to her and he narrowed his eyes at her.

“I just didn’t hear you. I wasn’t expecting to find anyone out here.”

“Me neither, its why I’m out here. It’s not exactly something I want to practise with people watching.”

She dropped her head, almost shy, hair dangling in front of her face disguising it, not like he recognised her anyways.

He sat down on the stump he’d laid his belongings out on and brushed the twigs and leaves off of his feet so he could put his socks and shoes back on. When he looked up she was still there.

“Do you need something?”

“Oh no, sorry, I just - who are you?”

“Stiles Stilinski. It’s not my first name, it's just easier to pronounce. And you?”

“Laura Hale.”

The name twigged something in his brain but he would never be able to tell you to what it alleged to. There was a flash of panic on her face when she thought he was remembering something, but she was lucky on that front.

“Pleasure. So can I come back out here tomorrow, or will I have an audience again?”

“Oh yeah, sure, no problem. I just didn’t hear you.”

Stiles smirked and nodded, standing up swiftly his hoodie hanging around his waist, his blindfold still around his neck.

“Maybe I’ll see you around, Laura Hale.”

She smiled awkwardly and Stiles waved as he walked away.

* * *

He felt something niggling at him as he walked out of the preserve and back towards his house, something about Laura Hale was different than he knew of anyone else. Maybe it was that he didn’t sense her approach, maybe it was that she was stuck on the fact that she couldn’t hear him, maybe it was that tingly sensation that shook him to his very core. It wasn’t a warning sensation though, he was more than acquainted with that sensation, this was something else. It felt like he should know more about what it meant than that it rocked him at his very core, that wasn’t entirely informative enough to provide him with anything other than something else to keep in mind when he got back to school.

He found a note on the kitchen counter when he got back in, an assumption made by his dad that he was still asleep pinned by the notation of ‘call him when you wake up’, Stiles rolled his eyes. He had been up and out of the house before 5 that morning, he was more of an insomniac than Alaric liked to discuss. They could fix that later he always said. Stiles smirked, he wondered when later would be.

Jogging up the stairs to his room he found his phone where he had left it, on his bedside cabinet and unlocked it just to check.

No new messages. Fair, it was still early and he wasn’t really expecting anything.

He sat down on his bed and dialled his dad.

“Stiles, I’ve been pulled in for a double, I don’t know when I’ll be home, do you want to do the tree by yourself or we can find a day when I’m free.”

Stiles froze as he thought about it, they hadn’t decorated a tree in years, they had barely celebrated Christmas since he was ten. He could do it in a matter of seconds if he thought about it but he always considered that his dad would know when it was just that little bit too perfect. He also didn’t want to do it, so that was a factor.

“We can wait until you’re free.”

“Alright kiddo, don’t spend all day in bed now, why don’t you go see if anyone is about.”

Stiles nodded and hummed an affirmation as his dad hung up. He wondered just who his dad thought that Stiles hung out with when he was in Beacon Hills.

He set his phone back down before he headed for a shower, he could text Scott and see what he was doing or he could go check out the records. He’d decide after.

* * *

Stiles walked into the public library and smiled at the woman who looked suspiciously at him from where she was sat behind the desk.

“Hi, I was wondering if you kept family records here, I’m looking into my family background.”

She sneered at him before she loaded up the computer, “surname?”

“Stilinski.” She blinked at him. Of course, she would know that it was the sheriffs last name, but how many people remembered that he had a son, a son who existed in this town right until he was seven when he suddenly disappeared only to return to a household that was a shell of the one he left.

“They are in the archives behind this building, I will show you.”

“Thank you.”

He followed her at a safe pace so as not to be seen as too eager nor like he was taking the absolute piss. She flicked the light on and he baulked at the dusty room.

“I will leave you to it. Do not make a mess, you should find them under ’S’.”

He smiled at her again, appreciative that she had just let a stranger into the records that could really lead him anywhere. He ran his finger along the cabinets until he came across the boxes denoted under S.

Flicking through her was marginally pleased with the hefty folder denoted Stilinski.

He set his phone on top of the cabinet, ready to send photos of anything interesting to Alaric, keep him as up to date on events as he was keeping Stiles in his research. He wondered briefly how Dorian was enjoying his break in Poland doing what he loved best, research.

At some point in his search through the files he had migrated to the floor, trying to keep the packets as neat as he had found them, and replacing them with new ones when he was finished.

He was trying to find the elusive information on the origins of his grandmother from his father's side, he’d initially found out her maiden name was Conrad, so he had retreated to the C section, leaving the S section in the dust.

The records for the Conrad line was pretty slim, he found Rosa Conrad in the photocopied version of the same marriage certificate he’d found in the Stilinski packet. It, of course, spoke of her son Noah, which Stiles was already privy to that bit of information. He found her birth certificate which named her parents as Georgina and Lee Conrad, and their marriage certificate which added her maiden name as Palmer. He had a new cabinet to look in, but he stuck to Lee, to begin with.

He managed to trace Lee in the Beacon Hills records to maybe the most Beacon Hills person you could ever think of if there was anything in that line he wasn’t finding it. It was Georgina Palmer that took the cake for the hardest lineage to trace. There was no record at all for her mother a Kim Palmer who he could barely find a record of her marriage for and likely hadn’t been married in Beacon Hills for it to be recorded.

He made a special note of that.

Her father also wasn’t a Beacon Hills native like Lee’s lineage suggested his entire family seemed to be. Gethin Palmer was a name he was sure would come up with fruit in a quick google search, but he sent his slim findings along to Alaric all the same. It was at least more than they had found just working out of the school. It was a step in the right direction.

He yawned as he finished placing the last of the papers back in their rightful places when there was the clack of heels behind him.

“You’re still here? I’m closing up.”

The woman seemed affronted that he was still here but Stiles wasn’t bothered.

“Sorry, I was just finishing up. Thank you for letting me look around.”

“Did you find what you wanted?”

“Some. Hey, do you know if there are wider records anywhere else?”

“Beacon County official archives might have more.”

He smiled in thanks, that sounded like a good plan for wasting time in Beacon Hills this Christmas break.

* * *

He jumped when he heard someone calling for him as he was walking home, he turned around to find Scott panting as he ran towards him. He stopped, shaking his inhaler before taking a puff of it, lungs finally working properly once again he grinned.

“How’ve you been?”

Stiles smiled and shrugged, “not too bad. You?”

“Thought maybe you might have called to hang out but I’m okay.”

“Sorry, I didn’t want to impose on your break.”

Scott waved his hand dismissively, “hardly, my mom is working all sorts of shifts; apparently the hospital is really busy. Do you maybe want to help me practice for first-line lacrosse tomorrow?”

Stiles nodded, the exercise would be good; that way, he didn’t have to be a completely weak target for Hope when they got back.

“Sounds good. Text me when you wake up?”

“Or you could stay over? Mom is taking the night shift and she left money for pizza.”

Stiles grinned, “Let me just call my dad.”

* * *

They were stuffed on pizza and their eyes were foggy from video games when Scott eventually pulled the air mattress out of the cupboard for the night. Stiles eyes the dust on the box and Scott shrugged.

“Haven’t had much a chance to use it until now.”

Stiles didn’t say anything, it wasn’t as if he had a leg to stand on, this was his first-ever time staying over at a friends house because sleeping in Penelope’s room at the school didn’t count.

They mirrored each other's positions where they lay, Scott in his bed and Stiles on the airbed a blanket covering him up to his waist.

“I wish you were at school with me.”

Stiles looked across to where Scott was still staring at the ceiling.

“Your wish will come true soon.”

Scott sighed and nodded, still not looking down at Stiles.

“I’ve been so excited that you were coming back for Christmas break. I hardly speak to anyone at school.”

“What about that party you went to?”

“I’m sort of on the lacrosse team, I think I was maybe only invited because they didn’t want Greenberg there. I don’t really know any of them.”

Stiles considered it, “so getting first line would at least be something?”

“Yeah, somewhere to belong when you just coast under the radar like me.”

“I barely feel like I belong at my school anymore. As much as I don’t want to leave there to come here I think it will probably be better for me, I’m so different from everyone there that they don’t know how to treat me. I have a couple of close friends but one has just entered a new relationship and the other is dealing with family trauma right now that I wouldn’t want to be a bother to either of them. I miss them but they have enough on that I don’t think they think of me as much as I think of them.”

“I’m sure that’s not true.”

Stiles shrugged, though he was aware that Scott couldn’t see him, he assumed he sensed the sentiment.

“I don’t know whether it is or not, but I’m glad I met you. Just one more thing to make this easier. At least I can tell Penelope she won’t have to worry about me too much if I’m too busy keeping your ass out of trouble.”

Scott laughed, “no way, I think its more likely I’ll be keeping you out of trouble.”

Stiles grinned into his yawn, “I think we should sleep if we want to get up for me to kick your ass at lacrosse.”

“No way you will.”


	12. Chapter 12

Stiles spun the lacrosse stick around between his fingers effortlessly as he listened to Scott explaining the rules of the sport to him. Scott stopped speaking to watch the movements of his hands.

“Are you sure you’ve never played before?”

He gripped the stick hard and it stilled in his hands, he scratched the back of his neck bashfully, “I haven’t, I just uh, I’ve fought with sticks before.”

“That’s an elective at your school?”

“Sort of, its like anger management training really.”

Scott nodded, slightly more confused at his friend than he ever had been before but he wasn’t going to let it put him off hanging out with him.

“Alright, so we can start just throwing the ball between us.”

Stiles nodded, watching as Scott scooped his stick to the floor and bringing the ball into his net.

It took about ten minutes before it was an effortless pass back and forth of the ball between them. Stiles caught on quick and he didn’t have asthma as Scott did, he was barely sweating by the time Scott volunteered him to stand in the net so he could try and score some goals with someone actually blocking it.

Stiles found he had to try to miss it, his hand-eye coordination was too good after years of anticipating Hope trying to get a hit in when they sparred, he was hardly an easy training partner, so if Scott could get past him he could likely get past anyone.

By the time they were finished Stiles felt that familiar ache in his arms that he got from messing about with his staff for much too long. He’d missed that ache, he’d be more than happy to do this again some time, maybe then he wouldn’t be as much of a problem for Laura Hale out in the Preserve.

Scott was panting and taking puffs of his inhaler, his face red and his skin shining with sweat.

“You look like you hardly felt that.”

Stiles was red but he was by no means as broken as Scott looked to be. He shrugged.

“We’ll have to get you the team next year, maybe Coach won’t be as annoyed if he can replace Greenburg after all this time.”

Stiles shrugged again, he wasn’t that fussed about joining the lacrosse team at this new school, but he guessed if it's what Scott did he might as well try a bit more to fit in than he’d tried when he’d first gotten to the Salvatore School.

Well, fit in as much as Scott seemed to with his abundance of friends.

“So what have you got planned for the rest of your day?”

Stiles shrugged, “I need to find a way to convince my dad to let me take the into Beacon County but I actually have to catch him at the house to talk to him so I don’t know when that’ll be happening.”

“Why do you need to go there?”

“More family records I hope.”

“Still looking up your family tree then? Must be some heavy project.”

Stiles shrugged, “I got the barebones for the project I’m just interested to know more now. I have mostly polish heritage, and family from Israel, there is just one link that we can’t find. I’m hoping I can follow it better here while I’m home. At least it will give me something to do.”

Scott nodded, emptying half of his water bottle over his head after drinking the other half, “well if you need company, I’d happily come. It would seem my moms not in the house almost as much as your dad.”

Stiles smirked, considered it and nodded. He wouldn’t mind the company of course. He just hoped he wouldn’t have to answer any complicated questions.

* * *

He was reading on his bed when he had the first chance to discuss it with his dad, the man was grumbling down the corridor as he walked, more interested in getting out of his work clothes than speaking to his son about the last three days that they had barely seen one another. Stiles didn’t really understand why he wanted him home in situations like this, it was as if they lived totally different lives.

He sighed as his dad barely looked in on his room when he walked past. He set his book to the side and swung his legs off of his bed. He wandered down to the kitchen and sighed when he looked in the fridge, why did they never have any food in.

“Find anything good, kid?”

He startled hearing his dad but calmed down measurably knowing who it was.

“Nothing in. We could order burgers?”

“That’s my boy, I should have the night free, do you want to do the tree tonight?”

They were barely three days away from Christmas, Stiles wasn’t particularly feeling in the spirit of it all, and if his dad had wanted to be maybe he should have put it up before he brought Stiles back home.

“I don’t mind dad.”

“I’ll order the food, maybe put a film on?”

Stiles nodded and moved to the couch. This was the tensest he’d felt back in the house, but then again neither of them seemed to have really been trying to pretend that everything was alright. Stiles had been taking some of his anger out on him for pulling him away from his friends and he couldn’t deny that he hadn’t been being subtle about it so his dad was probably pulling away just to escape that.

They sat down beside each other for the first time in what seemed like forever, watching an average rated film that neither had seen nor were particularly interested in and Stiles figured it was now or never to ask.

“Dad? Do you think I could maybe take mom’s jeep for a drive me and Scott want to go exploring outside of Beacon Hills and neither one of us have a car.”

Noah blinked at his son for a second, a half-chewed burger remained still in his mouth until he swallowed and nearly choked.

“Scott?”

“Scott McCall, I met him at the end of summer, we kept in touch. I’ve been helping him practice for his lacrosse tryouts.”

“You were at his house the other night?”

“Yeah, his mom was working so I stayed over. I called you about it. Is it okay if we take the jeep?”

Noah nodded, he was more shocked that his son actively wanted to do anything in this town, never mind with someone from there. He’d never made friends easily, not when he wasn’t at the school, maybe this was a step in the right direction for them.

“Yeah, the keys are on the side for you. The jeep has been yours since- uh, it's yours. You might need to take it into the shop before you drive in it though, it’s been sat there so long I don’t even know if it will run.”

Stiles nodded, “thanks, dad.”

Neither of them wanted to think about his cut off sentence. The jeep had been his since his mom had died. They turned back to the bad film and ate their burgers in silence from there.

* * *

Stiles spent Christmas alone, not like he thought it would be any different, neither of them were feeling particularly festive and stiles had agreed that it would be better to let deputies take their Christmas’ with family and instead Noah would work. They had lunch together, with Stiles bringing takeout to the station but outside of that, he spent it on research.

It was a day like any other to Stiles, to him Christmas had been spent dancing his heart out with the people he felt closest to in the world. He considered that it would have been dreadfully weird to actually sit down and have a festive time with his dad, this was more comfortable to him and he didn’t mind that.

He reclined on the couch and hit up the one person he figured was having a worse Christmas than him.

Penelope Park.

She called him as soon as his text went through and he laughed as she groaned instead of hello.

“Having fun I take it?”

“It’s worse than last year, how is that possible?”

“Maybe they missed you?” He teased delighting in ruffling her feathers or at least attempting to get beneath her skin.

“Missed torturing me maybe. All they talk about is Lapnine Ladies Academy, from what it sounds like it should be like Beauxbatons in Harry Potter. I think its judgement either because I go to the Salvatore school and they don’t or because they want me to go to Lapnine too, don’t know why though since I can hardly stand being with them for a holiday never mind a school year. Tell me, how’s your Christmas going, save me with tales of your escapades.”

Stiles laughed and shifted a little on the couch so he could tuck his feet up under himself.

“Well, my Christmas has been pretty quiet. Dads been working all day, I took burgers to him for lunch and we ate that in his office, I’ve mostly just been conducting futile research but you know how much I love a good bit of research so it wasn’t a hardship.”

“Oh Stiles, we need to get you a life.”

He barked out a laugh and had she been with him he would have smacked her for that comment.

“Well thanks, P. I have seen Scott over the break though, his mom works odd hours too so we have a lot of free time, and it seems like he doesn’t really have any other friends here either.”

“Twin souls.” She snarked and he shook his head a grin painted on his face that she could not see but no doubt could hear.

“Maybe. But as much as I didn’t want to come back for Christmas I’m kind of happy I did. I can see myself at school here now, I still miss you and Jos and Hope but I don’t think I’ll spontaneously combust to have to stay here for a full year.”

“You’d better not be replacing me now Stilinski.”

“There is no way I could ever replace you. Now tell me about you and Josie, I don’t want to have to catch up with it all when I get back to the school.”

Penelope laughed but wasn’t shy with the details all the same.

* * *

By the time the day came to venture into Beacon County they had passed into the new year, Stiles had spent the night with Scott watching the ball drop on the tv and sending messages to Hope and Penelope to get him through the day.

Scott was accompanying him in the jeep, ready for an adventure he hardly saw in Beacon Hills. The town was a little too quiet for both boys to find any real joy sticking around, this was just a new chapter in what they knew was a budding friendship.

Stiles had to warn him before they got on the road that he could drive but also hadn’t properly driven since parts of last summer when he passed his test. There was no real opportunity to drive at his school and he’d never considered the use of his mothers' jeep as anything other than a possibility.

Scott had grinned goofily back at him, this was still as much an adventure even if they crashed and even though they were going to explore some dusty archives, he was excited all the same. Stiles shook his head at the boy but found himself grinning just as dopily.

He’d been in contact with the archivists to let them know he was coming and Alaric had even sent them an email explaining his visit was for academic and personal reasons just in case they took one look at two teenage boys and turned them away at the door even after all their driving. Stiles hoped they wouldn’t turn them away he really wanted to find out more about where Kim and Gethin Palmer had come from before they came to reside in Beacon Hills. He really wouldn’t feel satisfied with going back to Virginia without having some answers to that question.

He wanted the full picture and he didn’t want to not be pulling his weight especially when Dorian was spending his holidays - as much as he enjoyed it - in the archives in Poland. It just didn’t seem fair especially when they were doing this for him specifically.

His worries were for nothing because as much as they looked down upon them when they walked in, they presented their identification and were shown down to the county records rooms which were laid out much the same way as Beacon Hills public library archive room but a hell of a lot bigger.

He apologised to Scott with a smile but Scott waved him off and offered his services.

They found the P section with little fanfare and Stiles went about locating the Palmer’s with the accuracy of someone who’d already spent too long in one stuffy file filled room.

He dropped the Palmer files on top of the cabinet, marking where he had pulled it out of with a different file so he didn’t make a bad impression on the people already not pleased that teenagers were in their archives.

“What are you looking for?”

“The names Gethin and Kim Palmer. They weren’t married in Beacon Hills, nor born there so I have no record for where they might have come from. I’m hoping there might be some information in here.”

Scott nodded, not completely sure he understood any of what Stiles was talking about, but he sure would be here for moral support.

He leafed through the names until he hit gold a marriage certificate that looked less than official but had the name of a company that officiated the marriage that would maybe have further information about where he could find something on these people. He waved it enthusiastically at Scott who clearly didn’t care about it as much as Stiles did, but this was more of something than he had seen in ages.

“Dude, I know this isn’t exciting to you, but this suggests that I was right about them being a part of a nomadic community, they are Quechan!!”

Scott laughed at his excitement, he had never been one to be excited about his family history, but seeing his friend so happy made him wonder what he was really missing out on in all this.

Stiles took detailed photos of everything on the marriage certificate and fired it across to Alaric before his ADHD sent him down some alternate track of things to do. He could get back in touch with his contact in the Quechan tribe now, they might not know anything but its better than what he had entered the records office.

He tucked away all the files he had displaced from their original placements, checked he hadn’t missed anything obvious in his excitement before he turned back to Scott sheepishly, “sorry it was a quick one.”

Scott laughed and shook his head, “I’m happy enough to have gotten out of Beacon Hills even if it was for the shortest of time.”

Stiles shrugged, “we don’t have to go back just yet?”

Scott nudged him on the shoulder and smiled, “sounds good.”


	13. Chapter 13

Stiles lay on his bed, fed up. Scott was a week back in school and Stiles had a week left of Christmas break, he’d exhausted all research endeavours into his paternal grandmother's Quechan heritage line without having access to Alaric and all of his contacts.

He was just bored.

His dad had tried to hint that he could attend Beacon Hills high school for a little while before he went back to the Salvatore School and Stiles had been right back with it that he could just go back to the Salvatore School earlier and his dad had quietened down. He wished he could go back to the Salvatore School earlier, that would be his ultimate dream come true, but realistically, whose dreams actually ever came true.

Penelope had already escaped her torturous family life and gotten back to school. Stiles had been humoured to know that Hope and Penelope were putting up with each other at the school with a side dish of MG. He missed his friends more than ever now that he couldn’t spend his days with Scott.

He rolled to the side to check his clock and huffed his annoyance at the time blinking back at him. Hefting himself off of the bed and onto his feet he decided getting out of the house and being bored outside was more interesting than being bored inside.

Boredom usually ended with something blowing up too, it was probably better if his dad was nowhere near any of it when it eventually kicked off as he knew it would. He could feel his magic pulsing inside of him and he would wish he could learn to understand them as the warning signs that they so clearly were. His connection to the earth and natural magic would become clearer later but it wasn’t so helpful in this current moment in time.

His feet led him to the edge of the preserve before he knew where he was destined to end up, his thoughts were blurry and it was almost as if something else had control of himself. If he had any thoughts about preventing his movements he might have been able to attempt to wrestle back control, but he was currently attempting to stop himself from self-destructing the world around him so he wasn’t too nonplussed by what might come when he entered the preserve.

He wandered until the fatigue started to set in and the sun started to dip below the trees. His mind was blank but his magic knew where it wanted to go. Direct and forwards and through winding paths of trees and dips in the earth, and there before him stood the stump of an ancient tree that Stiles felt thrumming in the earth around them.

For the first time since he had first held his Alder quarterstaff in his hands, he felt connected. Something in him finally understood why his family had settled here after such a complicated history that brought them in from all corners and lifestyles. This was something important to every corner of his being and he understood that.

He fumbled for his phone and snapped a photo of it, sending it off to Alaric as soon as he stopped feeling the tingling sensation in his fingers. He thrummed with the energy that the tree was presenting to him, almost as if they had slid into sync with one another as soon as they got within proximity of one another. But what if they had always been in sync with one another, that thought flitted in and out of his brain, what if that’s what his connection to the world was. He would discuss that with Alaric when he got back to the school, that wasn’t a thought to get too paranoid about when he was still stuck in Beacon Hills for another week.

“It’s the Nemeton.”

Stiles startled as he spun around to the sound of the voice that spoke. He relaxed a modicum to see the woman he had seen in these woods at the start of his Christmas break - Laura Hale.

“It’s an oak tree.”

Laura nodded, stepping further out of the shadows so she looked less like she was looming. She looked exhausted all the same and Stiles had a terrible feeling in his gut that he still didn’t know how to explain.

“You’re not human are you.”

She said it with such conviction that when he faltered it wasn’t to dismiss the idea but more because he wondered what tipped her off.

“You neither?”

She tipped her head and smiled, they were both clearly on the offensive with one another, how were they to know right now that they weren’t enemies against one another. They weren’t attacking one another, but again they were only aware that they were each something supernatural. Right now they were sticking to civility before it all went wrong.

“Only supernaturals can wander upon the Nemeton, even if it is just a stump of an old oak tree. So what are you?”

“Got a bit of magic in me. You?”

“A wolf.”

Stiles blinked, he’d obviously cohabited with werewolves before so he wondered why he had never identified it when they first came upon one another. But then he remembered that the wolves he knew could sense a magic user and he didn’t think she had pegged him as anything other than a teenage boy when he was doing tai chi in the forest.

“Beacon Hills, your territory then?”

She nodded, “Hale pack land. You’re not here to cause trouble are you?”

Stiles shook his head, “I’m just back for Christmas break, I’ll be gone again in a week. I’ve never met anyone here in all my years.”

She nodded, “there was an incident ten years ago, we since moved away.”

Stiles understood that it was like when his mom died and he ended up in Virginia. An escape from the issue as easy as it came.

“What brought you back then?”

She looked nervously at the Nemeton stump and Stiles considered the power that he felt thrumming all around him. He didn’t think he really wanted to know about what had caused the power to respond so heavily like it was now.

“I still have some family here, some business to take care of.”

Stiles nodded, he really wasn’t about to pry into anything that she might not want to share with him, they definitely weren’t at that place just yet. They had more or less only just met and Stiles wasn’t that interested in getting so invested in something in Beacon Hills when he intended to be out of there as soon as he possibly could.

He loitered nervously, noticing for the first time since his alone time was interrupted that the feeling of his magic bubbling over had abated. He no longer felt the need to lash out at everything around him now that he was away from the public, he felt content and just a little bit nervous about what she might have thought about him if she had witnessed that. He knew the fear that his fellow students felt when they saw him, he didn’t need to see that in someone else’s eyes especially when they were likely just as dangerous as him.

“I’m not intending to be a problem for any of your business. I was just drawn out here, I felt it in my gut.”

“From what I know of the tree it does that, I don’t intend to be problematic for you either.”

“Truce?”

He nodded with a smile, reaching forwards to shake her hand when she offered. He stepped back to leave and was gladdened to know that she too was taking her leave back into the woods on the opposite side of the stump.

* * *

By the time he reached his house, the sun had set and his father's car was still nowhere to be seen. This was yet another pointless day that he could have spent with his friends instead of trapped in Beacon Hills. Instead, he met a werewolf that was unlike any other he had been in contact with for the last nine years of his life and saw a tree that thrummed at the same pace as the beating of his heart.

All in all, he’d seen enough of Beacon Hills to last him until summer. But that wasn’t his decision, it never was.

He forwent the money on the side for whatever takeaway he might have desired, he wasn’t hungry and he didn’t much want his bed either. He was stuck in a restless loop that kept him contained to a house he didn’t want to be in.

He slid out of the back door to rest on the garden furniture that hardly ever served its true purpose, and stared up into the sky. Something in him felt more content after finding the Nemeton in the woods, but he would forever refrain from trusting anyone else with this secret than the people he truly knew. Alaric might not understand what he was talking about but he was open to investigate it with him rather than just passing it off as something that should be hidden like he knew his dad would.

His fingers fluttered at his sides, and he watched them make shapes in front of him, his brain plotting the information he was sharing with himself, modified spellwork that even with gestures wouldn’t manifest without his own intention. It was complicated for what he was used to but he understood the purpose of it, maybe not something he would ever need to perform outside of dire need but it would be an interesting experiment back at school.

Lights flashed on behind him and he stilled his hands by sliding them beneath his thighs and returning his attention to the quiet of the world around him. Beacon Hills was both the busiest and quietist place he had ever known, it was busy in terms of his dad never did seem to get enough sleep and it was quiet in terms of there wasn’t anything ever to do.

His dad opened the door behind him and Stiles didn’t even have to turn around to know he sighed and contemplated why he had ever kept his son home like this.

“Bad workday?” Stiles prompted.

“Busy,” Stiles chuffed, “I’ve come back for some food, did you order anything?”

Stiles shook his head, “not really hungry.”

“I’ll put extra in the fridge if you decide you want any later.”

Stiles released a breath when he listened to his dad close the door and return to life in the world, allowing him his want of alone time in the safety of their back garden. If Stiles had been much younger his dad would have left to go back inside with the added inflexion that Stiles should make sure not to use any magic while he’s back there alone. He was very glad they had grown out of those warnings.

His dad hated the magic because it reminded him of Claudia, and Stiles didn’t blame him for that. When he had first arrived at the Salvatore School he hadn’t wanted to be anywhere near it, he was just unlucky that his magic didn’t have that same consideration to him. He had to get used to it as a part of himself because of how volatile he truly was, but his dad had shipped him away as soon as the school would take him and now they had grown to a place where likely his dad would never accept him with magic.

Magic was the one thing that his dad would blink away for as long as he could, and knowing now that they lived in werewolf territory told him that to some degree his dad was going to get more involved in this than he ever would have wanted to.

* * *

He sat in that chair most of the night, sleep elusive to him and the thought of having to return to his room that was so unlike the dorm he shared with Wade in Virginia was exactly what he didn’t want for himself right now.

His fingers drummed spirals into the rotting wood he claimed as his own that night, he could waste a couple of hours sleeping but his brain just wasn’t into it. He wanted to be out in the cold air, feeling the world around him and connecting more deeply with the power coursing around under his feet.

The sun began peeking through the trees again when he next heard from his dad, the door scraped open and he heard that telltale sigh that told him his dad wanted to chastise him for being out all night yet couldn’t find the energy to do so.

“I’m off to work again now, Stiles. I should be back this evening.”

Stiles wished him well at work before attempting to return to the almost meditative state he had mastered over the course of the night. His limbs felt heavy for lack of sleep but he held no intention to crawl into bed until much later that evening, probably around the time his dad would come back from work. He really wanted to breach the topic of going back to school early, he could even just take the jeep back himself now, but he always worried himself silly before he even got near that topic with him. He would stare longingly at that jeep until he willed himself to get around the panic.

He reclined in the chair, head tilting back against the gross canvas of the chair, he would shower when he finally got to moving, right now he was content where he was. His eyes slid closed and he felt a pull, not so much the pull to go to sleep but he considered it anyway before letting it take him wherever it wanted to go.

He had let his feet guide him to the Nemeton, perhaps the energy that permeated Beacon Hills was enough to elevate who he was in himself, even that meant risking it to maybe sleeping in this gross canvas chair.

The next time he opened his eyes Stiles stared dumbfounded as he looked around at the halls of the Salvatore School. He was almost certain he had just been in Beacon Hills a second ago. He levered himself out of one of the comfy library chairs and stood on two feet almost entirely completely confused.

He walked slowly down the corridor until he bumped around a corner he generally hurt his shoulder on and found he passed straight through it. He stood there confused for longer than was probably necessary until he tried again and watched as his hand glided straight through.

Well, he probably wasn’t actually at his school. He was probably still sat on that disgusting chair in his garden, his dad was probably just getting in his car to drive to the station. The school was empty as should be expected for winter term but even so, he should still at least see someone. Maybe then he’d know if this was a dream or not.

He trembled as he walked the halls, he didn’t understand if this was a dream realm he had stepped through into, or a super realistic hallucination because he was really missing not being here. He wished it was real because then he could have at least called Alaric or Dorian and got their help in deciphering this whole mess.

He was exceptionally grateful for the Salvatore style of not having doors in doorways because he really was trying not to pass through anymore surfaces until he completely had to. He was walking a ghost town in what used to be his most happy place and he didn’t understand why he had to be going through this right now, this was just torture.

He hovered in front of Alaric’s closed office door and hesitated, he absolutely didn’t want to go through that door, even if it might clear away all of his issues.

He turned away to go back the way he came when he heard the door handle jiggle in the way it did when someone was unlocking the door. His blood ran cold as he hesitated where he stood, half turned to walk away back down the corridor.

The door swung open and Stiles made direct eye contact with Alaric Saltzman who stood paused in his doorway, hand still tight around the doorhandle he had used to open his door.

“Stiles? I didn’t know you were back?”

“Dr Saltzman, I’m uh, I’m not sure I am.”

**Author's Note:**

> I enjoy hearing what you think!
> 
> My tumblr is CaptArthur if you ever want to chat.
> 
> Fair warning, if you've been with this since I began I've reworked some of the chapters so it makes sense to what I've changed, so if you think I've gotten confused, I have and I've attempted to fix the confusion. Sorry.


End file.
